The Cooper X Gang
by Mutitoon90
Summary: Twenty years after the Kaine Island heist, it's his son's turn to be a thief. This is his story, with surprises, heists, and a few kissing between the characters. First story, so be honest, but not too harsh. Ch. 10 might be short, so sorry.
1. Character Profile

Character Profile

I do not know any of the **original **characters from the Sly Cooper games.

Character Profile

Cooper X Gang

Rad

Name: Conrad Cooper

Alias: Radder (Rad hates it)

Occupation: Thief, Gunner

Species: Raccoon

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Hair color: Grey with blue tips (not hair dye)

Fur color: Grey and black

Eye color: Brown

Weapon: Family Heirloom Cane, Shock Rifle (with a C-shape hook)

Hometown: Pairs, France

Family: Sly Cooper (father), Carmelita Fox-Cooper (mother)

Friend(s): Justin, Belle

Love Interest: Sam

Skills: stealing, gift of words, sharp shooting

Info: He is the most recent owner of the Thievius Raccoonus, an ancient book that contains the secrets of the Cooper thieving skills and The Cooper cane. He is able to steal just about anything, including the hearts of young ladies. He has personality that can make friends with anyone. He has a crush on Sam, but seems to be ignored by her.

Sam

Name: Samantha Down

Alias: Sammy (Sam does not mind)

Occupation: Thief, Pyrotechnics

Species: Cat

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Hair color: Brown with a white strand on the right bang

Fur color: Brown (darker shade)

Eye color: Blue

Weapons: Whip, Explosives

Hometown: San Francisco, Ca

Family: Unknown

Friend(s): Mar

Love Interest: Rad

Skills: stealing (some are from the Thievius Raccoonus), making and using fireworks

Info: She is a strong-willed and strong-bodied girl. She has a hard time trusting others, even Rad, and is quick to anger when insulted and can send people flying with one punch (literality). She is good friends (in a sense) with Luna. She seems to ignore Rad's suave sweet-talking, but she has a crush on him. But, she doesn't like to talk about it.

Justin

Name: Justin Thunder

Alias: Just(Justin does not mind)

Occupation: Brawn, Driver

Species: Husky

Gender: Male

Age: 19

Hair color: Pink

Fur color: Light blue and white

Eye color: Green

Weapons: Gauntlets

Hometown: Paris, France

Family: Murry (father), Fauna Thunder (mother)

Friend(s): Rad, Belle

Love Interest: Luna

Skills: Power lifting, driving, hand-to-hand combat

Info: Justin was a member of Rad's posse before the Cooper X gang. He is the eldest member. Rough and tough, yet silent, he is kind-hearted and would be enraged if one of his friends were harmed. He can send a few people to the hospital with at least one punch. He might have hurt his fellow teammates on accident. He has a crush on Luna, but has a hard time expressing his feelings towards her.

Luna

Name: Lunanna Lousteau

Alias: Lunie (Luna hates it)

Occupation: Swimmer

Species: Wolf

Gender: Female

Age: 19

Hair color: Purple-Lavender

Fur color: White

Eye color: Yellow

Weapons: Harpoon Gun

Hometown: Austin, Texas

Family: Dimitri Lousteau (father), Victoria Lupinia-Lousteau (mother)

Friend(s): Mar

Love Interest: Justin

Skills: Diving, hand-to-hand combat

Info: She joined Sam's posse because it was more exciting than having her parents (her mother mostly) picking suitors for her. Mature and thoughtful, she can be little cruel at times, but she is loyal to her friends. She has a crush on Justin, but covers it in her workout sessions.

Mar

Name: Mar Warren

Alias: Mars(Mar hates it)

Occupation: Telekinesis,

Species: Rat

Gender: Male

Age: 17

Hair color: Brown

Fur color: Brown and white

Eye color: Grey

Weapons: Staff

Hometown: San Francisco, California

Family: Morris Warren (father), Maria Trust-Warren (mother)

Friend(s): Luna

Love Interest: either Sam or Belle

Skills: Telekinesis, business information

Info: Mar's parents are business owners. An old guru from Australia taught him. He rescued Sam from a group of thugs, making him a part of Sam's posse. Quiet and true, he can fight to save himself and others. He is unsure that his feelings are for Belle or Sam.

Belle

Name: Belle Genius

Alias: Bell-bell (Belle is annoyed by the nickname)

Occupation: Brain, RC Pilot

Species: Mouse

Gender: Female

Age: 17

Hair color: Green

Fur color: White

Eye color: Pink-Red

Weapons: Crossbow, RC Remote, laptop

Hometown: Paris, France

Family: Bentley Genius (father), Penelope Planie-Genius (mother)

Friend(s): Rad, Justin

Love Interest: either Rad or Mar

Skills: Hacking, RC riding, inventing

Info: Belle's parents are pawnshop owners. She was home schooled because of her parents are very smart. She can hack any system with her laptop. She was a part of Rad's posse since they were in school. Shy and nervous, she is the quiet one of the team, as well the youngest. She has feelings for Mar and Rad.


	2. The New Cooper Gang, Part 1

The Cooper X Gang

The Cooper X Gang

By Mulitoon90

Chapter One: The New Cooper Gang, Part 1

San Francisco, California, 12:34 a.m.

In Little China Town, a security alarm broke the silence of the night. Six figures ran out of a building, looking for a high place to hide from the police. As they climbed on another building, they watched two police officers came out of the building with a handcuffed monkey. Pushing the primate criminal out of the building was a male raccoon wearing a treachcoat with a white shirt, blue gloves, blue shoes, and beige overalls. The other was a female red fox, who wore a yellow jacket with a blue sleeveless shirt under the jacket, blue jeans, yellow gloves, and brown hiking boots, was holding a small blue item in her hand. Normally, she would be angry with a criminal, who was cocky enough to leave notes for police, but she was clam. The criminal monkey was grinning when he saw the vixen's face, said, "So, the big bad cop lady has a soft spot for her thief of a son."

That was a nasty mistake. _Whack! _The raccoon gave the idiotic monkey a good punch at the head.

" Be careful what you say to her when it come to her son." Warned the raccoon.

The monkey slipped into silence. He had heard about Constable Cooper's strength, but he never thought that he would find out if it were true.

The transport vehicle came and took the monkey away. When the authorities left, the constable walked over to his partner. He saw that the vixen had not said a word since she read the note. He asked his partner, "Can I please see that note, Carmelita?"

She looked to her partner and said, "Sure."

He read the contents of the note:

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_I'm sorry about my career choice, but I promise that it is only temporary. I'll _

_always think of you guys, and I love you._

_Your son,_

_Conrad 'Rad' Cooper_

The constable gave a great sigh. "Honey, I know how you feel. He's my son too."

"Sly, I know," Said the vixen. "I just wish he never found out about your past or those heirlooms."

The Cooper cane was the bane of her life. It has been so since the day she met Sly Cooper the thief. She thought it was over when he faked amnesia twenty years ago. When Sly finally told her the truth about his amnesia, it was the happiest day of her life, because he really gave up being a thief just to be with her.

But, what she hated most was the Theivius Raccoonus, the book that was an heirloom as well as the cane. The book was the holder of the Cooper sheath moves, which was made by the Cooper clan. Sly also gave that up as well.

Meanwhile, the group of six was watching the events unfold. By now, they climbed to the roof of another building. Each member was their own animal in the group: A raccoon, a cat, a husky, a wolf, a rat, and a mouse.

The cat looked at the police couple with a confused look on her face. The others would have seen the look on her face, if her long hair were not covering her face. She knew nothing of the feelings the couple was feeling at the time.

The husky was wondering want his parents might say about this. His father was a racecar driver as well as an ex-thief, but his mother was an owner of a flower shop. He had doubts of his mother would ever understand why he chose to be a thief.

The wolf was indifferent about the couple's feelings. Her mother controlled most of her life and her father, being a deep-sea diver, was rarely home. But, when he was home, her life was better. But, she ran away from them.

The rat was felt a little left out. His parents were business owners, so he had very little time with them. He had been alone for a long time, until he met an old koloa. The old man taught the young rat how to use some of power of the Dreamtime. The rat was upset, when the old man had to return to his home, after an old rock band came to town.

The mouse was feeling homesick. She also was not worried about her parents being angry with her for being a thief. They were thieves themselves for a time. She just missed her family.

The raccoon was feeling the most emotion of the whole group. He was the child of the police couple. He was torn between being a thief like his ancestors before him, and breaking his mother's heart. He was friends with the husky and the mouse since they were in kindergarten. The others, he just made an agreement with them to join them, are good allies.

The cat turned to look at the raccoon. She saw the look on his face, and she knew that look. She would walk up to him, but she did not know how to do it. She spent most of her life alone. Her only friends, in a sense, were the wolf and the rat.

"Hey, Sam."

Sam noticed the raccoon looking at her. She blushed a bit before turning away from him.

"Sorry." She said.

The raccoon shook his head and asked, "What is it?"

Sam knew she was in a corner with no way out.

"I noticed that you were looking a bit sad." She said.

"Don't worry, it's my problem." He said.

"Rad, look!" The husky yelled.

"Justin, what-"

Before he finished his sentence, a large shot of electric energy came at the group. The group dodged the shot. But, they could not get a sigh of relieve just yet, because the person who fired the shot was on the roof of the building next to the building the group was at. Rad saw the person, who shot at the group, was his mother.

"Freeze, you're under arrest." The vixen said.

Sam thought of an idea.

'This might get me killed.' She thought. 'But, it will give the guys a better chance to escape.'

Sam walked up to Rad. Carmelita saw that Sam was up to something. Sam put her hand onto Rad's shoulder. Rad also saw that Sam was up to something, even if he did just met her. His theory was confirmed when she winked at him. Sam leaned to the raccoon and kissed him on the cheek. Carmelita saw the event and quickly became enraged.

"Keep your lips off my son!" Carmelita yelled.

Rad may be a thief, but he is still her son.

Sam smirked. "Make me, Fox!" Sam yelled at the vixen to get her attention.

"That tears it!" Yelled the vixen, enraged to the point that could imitate a volcano.

Sam ran for her life as Carmelita chased her across the rooftops. Sam's plan was working very well.

As Sam distracted Carmelita, the others ran to Justin's van. But, there was one person in the way. They were not even halfway to the van when the constable jumped in front of them.

"Hi, son." The elder raccoon said.

The group of five froze. They did not know what to do, except Rad.

"I'm sorry, but you're under arrest." He said, in a sad voice. .

"I'm sorry too, Dad." The young thief said.

He turned to his teammates and yelled, "Run for it!"

The group ran in different directions. The constable chased his son. The thief saw that his father was after him.

'Oh, Dad.' Thought the young raccoon.

He dodged and ran to keep his constable father at bay. But, his father was the infamous Sly Cooper, one of the world's greatest thieves. His father kept up with him in every twist and turn. This went on for many minutes.

Then, Rad saw Sam, who was still chased by Carmelita, running on the other rooftop. He also heard the van in motion. He noticed that Sam also saw him, and heard the van too. They kept running with their pursuers behind them, until they saw the van.

Then, they were on the same rooftop.

"Hello, lover." Rad said coolly.

"Hello, yourself." Sam responded calmly.

"We better jump soon." The young raccoon said.

"Yeah, or we're going to get to know each other better in jail." The cat said as the van came closer to their position.

The van was in their sights. They knew that they had to jump onto the van, or get arrested. Sam grabbed Rad's hand. Rad, then, started to count. "One. Two. Three!"

They jumped and landed on a van did looked like it has seen years of weariness. It had a symbol that looks like a white raccoon wearing a blue mask, which is the most noticeable feature of the van.

"Bye-bye." Sam taunted to the pursuers.

"Don't worry, I'll write." Rad added.

On the rooftop, the married law enforcers watched as the young thieves escape. Carmelita was furious, while her husband was grinning.

"Why are grinning while our suspects are getting away?" Carmelita demanded.

The constable just laughed, then said, "That cat really knows how to push your buttons when it concerns with our boy." .

Carmelita thought for a moment, and then she realized what her husband was saying.

"You're telling me that cat tricked me?" The cop questioned Sly.

"That's right." Her husband answered.

The inspector was taken by surprise, and then smiled. Outsmarted by an eighteen-year-old girl, she never saw it coming. After her years as an inspector, and some of it chasing Sly when he was a thief, she should have seen it a mile away. But, the cat, that tricked her, was a member of her son's gang, so it is not that big of a surprise. She was also getting bored of the easy catches and captures, after Sly retired as a thief.

"Well, it's a little late, so go back to the station?" Sly asked. "And maybe a bit of a midnight snack…"

"Under the moonlight?" Carmelita finished, knowing what her husband was up to.

They looked at each other and said in union, "It's a date."

They had to smile. They had a son, who would stay honorable although following his path as a Cooper. And, since the young thief was not with them, they could enjoy themselves without interruptions.

Rad and Sam slipped into the van. They were glad that they were not harmed by the ordeal. The others were just happy that the best people in their group. The ride out of town was like a party. Rad was happy to have three more members: a cat that is great pyrotechnics expert and also a great thief, a rat with telekinetic powers and some business information, and a wolf that is a deep-sea diver and a back-up driver. It was a good way to start up a gang of thieves.

After a while, the van stopped. The driver, Justin, and the rat, Mar, exited the van to pump the gas into the van. Sam was awake, but barely. She would doze on and off, like a child playing with a light switch. She noticed that Rad was awake as well, trying not to fall asleep. Sam could not help herself against the laugh that came out of her throat. Rad heard the short laugh, and it fully woke him up. He gave the most sheepish grin Sam has ever seen in her life.

"You're a goofball, you know that." Sam said, almost laughing aloud after seeing the goofy grin.

The raccoon shrugged, "Hey, it happens."

Sam liked how the response sounded: smooth and clear. It made her more interested to talk to him. It is not everyday for anyone to meet a person that can make such a smooth statement while half awake.

"That male cop from earlier," Sam asked to keep the both of them awake. "Is he related to you?"

"Yea," Rad said coolly, "He's my dad."

Sam was fully awake. The answer shocked her. She was expecting that the cop was his uncle or cousin. Sam gave herself another laugh. She felt like an idiot, although she never really had a family.

"You must think that I'm dumb." Sam said feeling embarrassed.

Rad smiled, "I don't think so."

"Hey, guys,"

Justin just broke the conversation between Rad and Sam.

"Do you guys got four cents?"

Sam reached into her pocket and pulled out a nickel. Justin took the coin.

"Thanks."

"Anytime." Sam said to the light blue husky.

After Justin left the van to pay for the rest of the gas, Sam asked Rad, "Is always like this or just on special occasions?"

"A little of both." Rad answered.

Sam giggled at the answer. She did not know what to do at a situation like the one she was in. She always giggled whenever she was in an awkward situation, which is almost every situation that does not involved upsetting people.

"Hey, Sam," Rad said, grabbing Sam's attention. "How long have you guys be a team?"

"Half a year." Sam responded.

"Whoa, that long?" Rad said in surprise. "I was expecting you guys to have been a team for a bit longer."

"Really?" Sam asked with surprise in her voice.

"Yea," Rad answered.

Then, he asked, "How did you meet each other?"

Sam smiled. "Sure."

Sam told Rad how she met Mar, the rat and the telekinetic. It was five years ago when a group of thugs tried to put themselves onto Sam, but she refused to submit to them, she attacked them. They did not like the refusal, so they attacked her. Being a streetwise cat, she managed to keep them at bay for a few hours. But, they finally caught up with her. She would have been killed if Mar had not come to her rescue. Mar just came out of nowhere and attacked the thugs. Sam, seeing the odds were in her favor, helped her rescuer fight back her attackers. She was so happy that she was saved. Since then, they were a team.

"So," Rad asked, looking at the wolf, "when does Luna come in?"

Sam explained how Luna joined them. Luna was wondering all over a street, dizzy for lack of food. She was almost hit by a speeding car, when Sam rescued her by grabbing the dizzy wolf by the hand. After that situation, Luna was fed and rested after a few days. Then, Luna told Sam and Mar why she was at San Francisco. Her mother wanted her to have a husband. Every time her mother brings a suitor, Luna does not like him because it would be a guy who is after the money that comes with the marriage. So, she ran away to find a new life away from suitors and her mother. Sam told her own story, then Mar told his story. Sam offered to house Luna for a time. Luna agreed. A few days later, Luna got an apartment for her and Sam. Luna called her father, told him about the situation, and asked him to transfer some money. He agreed, but only if she gets a job within a month.

"So, did she get a job?" Rad asked.

"Yep, and within a month too." Sam said with a friendly smile. "It was so great to sleep on a bed again."

"Because you slept on the streets for years." Rad said.

"I was on the streets since I was eight." Sam said sadly.

"Almost like my dad." Rad whispered under his breath.

"Hey, guys." A calm voice called out.

"Mar, are you guys done?" Sam asked in a curious voice.

"Yes; we're on the way to my house." Mar answered in confidence.

The ride to Mar's house was a blast, literary. It turns out that Belle, the mouse, did some work on the van's engine to make the vehicle faster.

"I knew we needed a fast getaway vehicle, but this is a bit on the overkill side." Rad said through the pressure of the van's speed.

"Okay," Belle said through the same pressure, "so I overdone myself when I worked on the van. What's the crime?"

Before an answer was given, the van came to a screeching stop. It caused everyone and everything in the van to crash into the back of the front seats.

"Ow, that hurts." Sam said, rubbing her head.

"And to answer your question, Luna said, groggy from being nearly suffering a concussion, "One, it would being accessory to reckless driving. Two, it would be a possible charge of being accessory to accidental manslaughter."

"Hey, be thankful that you're still alive." Sam said to Luna, still rubbing her head.

"Hey, lower voices please." Rad said, also rubbing his head, "I have a nasty headache."

"Yeah, I got too." Sam said.

Luna and Belle had to agreed with Rad and Sam, because they each had a headache as well.

A voice added more pain to the backseat riders' headaches.

"We are here!" Justin yelled to everyone in the back.

Justin looked back to see his teammates. What he saw took his hyper smile off his face.

"Sorry, guys." He said in a sincere voice.

"Don't worry," Belle said, almost to the point of giggling, "you didn't know."

Sam and Luna exited the van as the friends talked to each other. Sam walked to the front driver's side door.

"Come out, we need to get inside." Sam said loudly.

"How?" Justin asked.

Mar tapped Justin's shoulders to grab his attention, then said, "Go to the garage. I have the key to get in. We need to get in the garage to get inside the house, because there's only one key to the house."

"Okay." Justin said in his understanding.

The husky drove into the garage with Mar to help. Rad and Belle, who got out of the van before Justin drove to the garage, walked to the front door. Sam and Luna followed.

Minutes later, the door opened to reveal Mar and Justin at the other side. Justin was excited.

"Come in, guys." Mar said politely.

"Yeah, this place is bigger in the inside than it looks on the outside." Justin said in full excitement.

"Well," Rad said, "ladies first."

Luna and Belle, both flattered, said almost in unison, "Why, thank you."

Sam rolled her eyes at Rad's act of chivalry. But, she knew he was waiting for some gratitude from her for being a gentleman.

"Thanks." Sam said indifferently.

Rad smiled, and said "You're welcome."

Sam could not help, but smile. In her mind, he was attractive in more ways than one.

Rad also smiled. He thought that Sam was beautiful, despite that Sam is a stray, basically.

As they walked through the door,Rad turned to grabbed the doorknob with his cane, and closed it.

Next chapter: The New Cooper Gang Part 2


	3. The New Cooper Gang, Part 2

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Two: The New Cooper Gang, Part Two

San Francisco, California, 2:46a.m.

As Rad turned from the door, he saw the house's interior. The entrance hall was decorated with bright and shining colors. The room had a red-orange color with a small hint of blue. There were white twin staircases that looked as though they came out of a romance movie. It had a red carpet that covered the middle of the stairs. The gold bars, that followed the staircases, appeared to be freshly polished. Pictures of landscapes and flowers softened the atmosphere of the room.

Rad, awestricken by the size of the entrance hall, was staring at the room when Sam shook him.

"Wake up, ringtail." Sam said as she gave Rad a shake at the shoulder.

Waking from his trance, Rad said, "Huh? Sorry, I guess I was distracted."

"Don't worry," Sam said calmly, "most people turn into idiots when they see the place."

Rad just shrugged his shoulders. He had never been in a house as extravagant as the one he was in at the time. He also knew that Sam is probably telling the truth about the house.

"Okay," Mar announced, "let's go to the den. Newcomers, follow me."

The group followed Mar as they made their way to the den. They saw more of the house as it's shining colors and bright hues caught the visitors' eyes.

After a few minutes, the group arrived at the den. The room was unlike most of the other rooms. It had a feel of country welcome which was the extravagance of the entrance hall. The room was divided by two colors. On the top half of the room, the color was forest green. The other color was beige. A strip of homey decorations separated the colors from each other.

"It's like being at home." Belle commented as she looked around the room.

"Why, thank you." Mar responded with a host-like manner.

Sam looked away for a second, "Yeah, like home." The cat sadly thought.

"Sam, are you all right?" Rad and Mar said in unison.

Sam looked up to see the gang looking at her. She shook her head sideways, as she said, "No, it's nothin'."

Rad looked at her. _"Something's not right." _He thought as he saw Sam staring out of a window.

"Okay, close all windows and cover them with the curtains, 'cause we have a meeting to start." Justin announced to everyone in the room.

After the windows were closed and covered, the gang sat down to discuss what was going to happen next. Rad was on the back of a green chair as he would be like on a rope while doing a Rail walk, a move created by Tennessee Kid Cooper. He was between Sam and Luna. Sam sat in the beige chair left of the green chair. Luna sat on the left side of a white couch, while Justin sat on the right side. To Sam's left, Mar sat on a small, beige stool. Belle sat on a small, green chair, between Justin and Mar.

"Rad," Mar said, angry at the raccoon for being where the young thief was at, "sit on the chair, **not** on it's back."

Rad jumped off the back of the chair, landed on the floor, and sat down in the chair just like the others. "Better?" Rad asked snob-like to Mar.

"Much." Mar answered.

Sam, becoming angry at the boys' arguing, asked, "Can we start the meeting now?"

Rad and Mar looked at an upset Sam.

"Sure, Sam." Rad said, "Let's get started."

"Yeah, Let's go." Mar agreed.

Luna shook her head, _"Losing their heads over a girl, how lame." _She thought before she looked at Justin. Then, she thought, _"Well, not that lame."_

Sam, although not very good in conversions, can read people's faces very well. She saw Luna's face from disgust from the boys' disagreement to bashfulness from seeing Justin. _"Oh, brother. Luna just contradicted herself again." _She thought as she shook her own head.

"Meeting now underway." Justin said.

"Do you know what means?" Mar said curiously.

"It means the meeting has started, I guess." Justin honestly answered.

"Okay." Mar said calmly.

Rad stood up to announce his gang's proposal. "Okay, my friends and I are looking for people with enough potential to join our gang. And by the look of things from that heist, I'm more that convinced. You guys should join the gang."

Sam, Mar, and Luna looked at Rad as if he was crazy. Sam stood up and said, "Let us consult with each other first."

Sam left the circle, followed by Mar and Luna. The trio talked quietly among themselves, so the others could not hear them. Rad could only hear small parts of the conversation. He heard Mar's objections, Luna's possibilities of capture, and Sam's reasons to join or not. After a few minutes, Sam turned to the others.

"Okay," Sam announced, "my group has few problems to work out with your group. But, we're willing to join if you answer a few questions.

"Okay, go." Rad said in confidence.

"One: Are you guys real thieves?"

"Yes, we are." Rad said coolly.

"Okay," Mar spoke, "whom do you steal from?"

"From criminal masterminds and high security places." Rad answered smoothly.

"Good answer." Luna said honestly, "But is it true that the Cooper family have been thieves since ancient times?"

"Yes." Belle answered.

"One last question and we'll decide." Sam said, "Why do you guys think of us as the perfect candidates?"

Rad smiled and said, "A cat with the skills of a thief and a pyrotechnical genius," as he pointed at Sam, "a rat with telekinesis powers," then pointed at Mar, "and a wolf that is a diver and a driver," then pointed to Luna, "a team like that is hard to come by."

"That," Belle added. "and at least two out of three of you have a relation of some kind to an ex-member of the last Cooper Gang."

"She's right." Luna confirmed, "My dad was the Cooper Gang's frogman for at least two missions. He was also an informant for a mission."

"I knew the Guru." Mar said, "He taught me the Dreamtime skills I know."

Sam kept quiet. Rad saw that Sam was went out. "Hey, Sam."

Sam looked up and asked, "What?"

"You're still a part of the team, no matter what is or isn't" Rad said as he grinned a Cooper grin.

Sam felt a little better for what Rad told her, but it did not stop her from feeling left out because she had no parents.

Rad got concerned. "It looks like that pep talk didn't work very well."

"Ha! Maybe because you wanted her for her body?" Mar said smugly.

_WHACK!_

The group was in shock, including Mar. Sam had hit Mar on the head!

"Ow! Why did you do that?!" Mar exclaimed in pain while rubbing his head.

"Mar, I don't need or have to explain myself," The fiery feline said in a cold anger, "but accusing someone of something so horrible is just rude." Sam calmed down before continuing, "At least have some proof before exploiting them."

Mar was angry, but not enough to understand Sam's point. He was trying defended her as he did when the thugs chased her.

Rad putted his hand on Mar's shoulder. Mar did not look back to see who it was. Rad knew why Mar was rude towards him. "I know about what you did for Sam five years ago." Rad said. Mar was surprised. Before Mar said anything, Rad continued, "Sam told me."

Then, Mar remembered the ride to his house. Rad asked about the team and Sam was telling the truth.

"I'm sorry," Mar said in a small voice, "I was trying to defended my friend."

"Hey," Rad said, trying to get Mar's attention, "in the Cooper Gang, being a team is the most important thing."

"Yeah," Justin said, "you wouldn't believe how many times Rad and Belle had to save my hide."

"Thanks to his own big mouth." Added Belle.

"You bragged to a gang of thugs one time, and you're branded for life." Justin said, feeling insulted.

The others laughed with a good strong feeling, even Sam.

"So," Rad asked, "you guys in?"

Sam, Mar, and Luna looked at each other, then to Rad and said, "You bet."

Rad smiled, "Well, that's settled. But now, we need a base to stay for in-between heists."

"And this place is perfect." Mar added.

Sam looked confused by the arrangement. "Does that mean that Luna and I have to give up our apartment?" She asked.

Rad walked to Sam, and said, "You can, but that's between you and Luna." And with that, he placed his hand, and he kissed Sam on the cheek.

"That was for earlier." Rad said while Sam blushed so much that her brown fur had a noticeable hue of red.

Mar was also turning red, but it was out of anger. Justin placed his hand onto Mar's shoulder. "Chill, dude. It's out of respect." He said.

Justin and Belle just shook their heads at Rad's actions to Sam. Rad was known as a ladies man, but to draw attention to himself and away the others in the middle of a heist. But, something was not like the heists when it came to Sam.

Sam broke away from Rad's small embrace. "Hold up, ringtail. We just met yesterday."

Rad laughed at the comment with his hands crossed over his chest. He knew that Sam did like him and how hard that she is trying to hide it.

"Okay, we're in agreement that we are now a team" Belle said.

The others agreed with a chorus of 'yes.'

Luna had a question, "Should we have a name for the gang?"

Rad gave a smirk and said, "I'm glad that someone asked."

Rad reached into his red backpack and pulled out a piece of paper. Luna took the piece out of his hand. "'The Cooper X Gang' is the best you can come up with?"

"Well," Rad said hesitantly, "yeah."

A moment of silence came went before Luna said, "Well, I like it."

The others agreed with her. "Well, it's not that original, but it's better than just 'The Cooper Gang.'" Sam said.

"Yeah." Justin confirmed.

"Then, it's settled." Mar announced.

"Bad guys, beware. The Cooper X Gang is now in business!" Justin shouted out in pure excitement.

The others, including Sam, laughed at how he yelled out loud.

But, none of them knew that when they became the Cooper X Gang, they started a journey that none of them could have thought.

End of Chapter 2


	4. Down Under Thunder

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Three: Down Under Thunder

San Francisco, California, 3:09 a.m.

It has been a month since the group became a team and a lot of things had happen since then. Sam and Luna gave up their apartment for extra savings, and took residence at Mar's house. Sam also studied the Cooper moves (including the Laser Slide) and practiced the moves everyday. Luna and Justin sparred every other week. Belle e-mailed to her parents.

Then one day, Sam was looking out of a window, Rad was reading from the Thievius Raccoonus, Luna and Belle were talking to each other about their parents, and Justin was reading a auto magazine. Then all of sudden Mar came into the room, looking like he saw a ghost.

"What's wrong, Mar?" Sam asked in concern.

"It's the Guru." Mar announced.

"Mar, please tell us what is happening." Rad asked out of confusion.

"But, sit down first." Belle said, concerned about his well-being.

"Sit down?!" Mar yelled at Belle in a rage, "I can't sit down with someone in trouble needs help."

"Calm down, Mar!" Luna shouted.

"Yeah, you have no reason to yell at Bell-Bell." Justin said angry.

Everyone looked at Justin when he said 'Bell-Bell.' Sam, Luna, and Mar looked at Justin as if he had lost his senses. Rad tried to hold back, with very little success, the laughter that was trying to escape from his mouth. Belle was red from embarrassment.

"Bell-Bell?" Luna asked.

Justin said, "'Bell-Bell' is a nickname for Belle given by her father."

"And used by everyone else." Rad added as the laughter continued to escape his mouth.

Sam looked at Belle, who was covering her face, and said, "What's wrong with 'Bell-Bell?'"

The group looked at Sam. Sam glared back and said, "To have a nickname that was given by one's father or mother is a great honor. I would give almost anything to even have a parent to give me one, no matter how silly it might be."

"But," Mar said more calmly than he was earlier, "it would also be a honor to be of assistance of someone who was like a father to me!"

The group was in silence at Mar's remark. They knew nothing of how the Guru was important to him.

Then, Rad spoke, "Mar, sit down and talk to us. We're a team, so we need to talk to each other to help one another."

Knowing that Rad was right, Mar took in a big sigh and did what Rad suggested.

"You guys know that the Guru trained me in the ways of the Dreamtime, right." The five co-workers nodded. "Well, a few minutes ago, I just had a vision from the Guru. He speaks of great trouble at his home in the Australian Outback."

"What kind?" Justin asked in concern.

"Miners have returned for more opals." Mar said, "The whole valley is abundant of the stuff."

"How much?" Luna asked out of curiosity. Her family was rich!

Justin, knowing the answer, said, "Enough to corner the market in opals more than once."

Belle said, "In reality, it would be five times."

Luna gave a low whistle. _'That much money could make a humble man drool.' _She thought.

Sam, becoming more upset by the constant changes in the conversation, yelled, "THAT IS QUITE ENOUGH!"

The high volume of Sam's voice silenced the group. Sam, in a more calm voice, said, "We need to hear Mar. His teacher is in great trouble and all of you could do is talk how much opals are worth."

Rad added, "She's right."

The group, excluding Mar, was ashamed at themselves. They knew they were supposed to be a team, but they were new to this group being larger than three people.

Then, Luna said an idea, "Okay, let's listen to Mar."

An hour later, Luna was picking out clothes, Rad and Sam were looking for bug repellent, Mar was looking for food, and Belle worked on the van with Justin. It was all for the first heist of the Cooper X Gang.

Sam asked a question, "How are we going to Australia if we're wanted by the cops?"

Rad answered swiftly, "Belle hacks the database, and Justin makes the fake Ids."

"Oh, that answers my question" Sam said. Then, she yelled, holding the bug repellent, "Found it!"

"Good," Rad said, "now let's pack our bags."

And with that, Rad and Sam went upstairs to their rooms to pack. As they climbed the stairs, Belle called out to Rad. The raccoon said to Sam, "The guys need me."

Sam shrugged, "Hey, it happens."

Mar, coming out of the kitchen, saw that Rad and Sam separated. Mar asked Sam, "What's up with you and him?"

"Nothing, he's just playing." Sam said calmly as she continued her ascend up the stairs.

"And you're not?" Mar asked with a raised eyebrow.

The question stopped Sam in her tracks. Without turning around, the cat responded, "That's none of your business." And went upstairs to her room, and closed the door. In the room, she blushed at the fact that Mar stated. Her feelings for Rad were strange to her. Her feelings for him were also familiar to her as well.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rad was at the garage with Belle and Justin. The shy mouse was always bossy when she was working on anything mechanical. Rad and Justin knew better to stand in her way when she was in this mood.

"Wrench." Belle said.

"Wrench." Justin answered.

"Screwdriver." Belle said.

"Screwdriver." Rad said.

Belle removed herself from the underside of the van.

"So?" Justin asked with great excitement.

Belle cleared her throat, and said, "Justin, you're now the proud owner of a really tricked out van."

"All right!" Justin announced and ran to the van to check it out.

Rad turned to leave when Belle called him again.

"Belle, I need to help with the packing if we want to go to Australia." Rad said.

"That's what I need to tell you about." Belle said calmly, "Justin got the Ids finished, and I hacked and I got six first class sits."

"Okay." Rad said, "Great job."

Belle smiled, and said, "Thanks, Rad."

* * *

The next day, the group came to airport in disguise. Rad wore torn blue jeans, an orange shirt with the buttons off, black sunglasses, black fingerless gloves, three fake earrings on his left ear, and red and white tennis shoes. Sam was wearing a blue business suit with a pink shirt under it, matching blue high-heeled shoes, golden earrings, and blue sunglasses. Justin wore a blue Hawaiian shirt, purple flip-flops, blue shorts, a camera around his neck, red sunglasses, and a straw hat. Luna wore a black wig, a black shirt, a black pants; black combat boots, black fingerless gloves, and black sunglasses. Mar wore a red hat, a green shirt, a blue pants, and an orange sunglasses. Belle wore her hair down with flowers, a loose white dress, and white sandals.

Rad looked around to see if his parents were at the airport. When he saw that his parents or the police were not there, Rad turned to the disgusted gang.

"Okay, you guys know what to do, just kept a low profile." Rad said with great concern.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let's go." Rad said.

The group walked into the airport. They wanted in line for five hours for security was tight to keep terrorists at bay. After all six of the gang was though the gate, Sam was relived because she was bombarded with catcalls and wolf whishes.

In the airplane, the group was relaxing with the exception of Mar. He was thinking about the Guru and the trouble at Australia.

"Hey, Mar."

Mar looked up to see Belle. He asked, "What is it?"

"You looked upset." Belle said.

Mar knew she was right and he confirmed her theory by nodding his head.

"I know that you're worried about the Guru." Belle said, "Justin is also worried about him too."

"Really?" Mar asked his shy co-worker.

"Yeah, Justin's dad, Murry, was one of the Guru's students almost twenty years ago." Belle confirmed, "During the battle against Clock-la, my dad lost his legs while trying to get the Hate Chip. After Murry rescued my father, the destruction of the Hate Chip, and Mr. Cooper's self-sacrifice and escape, Murry felt so guilty about the accident that he left the team for a time. He went to find himself, and he found the Guru. Guru sent him all over the world as part of his training. Although he was completely into becoming a mystic, he never finished his training."

"What happened?" Mar asked in curiosity.

Belle continued, "In Venice, Mr. Cooper and my dad tried to stop an opera singer, who turned into a mobster after his opera career died before it really started, from sinking buildings to contained the city's canals. After ruining most of the pollution plan and a chase in the canals, Murry got excited when Octavio's boat crashed into the stage for a performance. You see, Octavio needed an audience to sink the buildings, so when Murry became very happy about seeing some destruction…"

"Octavio sink the buildings." Mar finished.

"Right." Belle said, "Octavio's action enraged my dad so much that he stood up to the villain. But, he was knocked down and out of his chair by a swift kick. Mr. Cooper was shocked at how fast the kick came, and asked for Murry's help. At first, Murry was hesitant, but when he heard my dad calling Murry for help. At that moment, the 'Thunder Flop' Murry returned to do battle. He fought the 'Phantom of the Opera' reject on the flattened stage, while Mr. Cooper turned values to release tar to slow Octavio down. But, they ran out of tar at that area. Mr. Cooper told Murry that there were tar values at the police plaza. After the run to the plaza, Octavio revealed that he was holding back his true power: his voice. He had the power to use his voice as a weapon. Mr. Cooper and Murry used the same technique, but more carefully. Eventually, the battle was over, and the victor was Murry."

"So, Murry chose to fight Octavio and give up the way of the mystic for his friend, who he felt that he failed the first. I don't see any reason to yell at him." Mar said.

"Yep." Belle confirmed. "But, Murry returned to the land down under to ask the Guru to be released from his training. But, they also recruited the Guru a member of the last Cooper Gang."

"That's good." Mar said with a smile.

"Of course it is." Rad said, "But, it's now the time to rest. We have a mission and we need to be rested so we can do our jobs."

"Okay, night." Belle said.

"Night." Mar said.

"Mar," Rad said with a smile, "the Guru will be all right. Trust me on that."

Mar smiled for the first time in two days. He fell asleep with a smile on his face.

Rad sat back to sleep when Sam, who was in a sit next to him, asked a question, "Are you sure about that promise you made?"

Rad was silent for a moment. Sam knew that Rad was not very sure.

"But, you're right." Sam said, "We need rest."

"All right. Good night, Sam." Rad said.

"Night, Rad." Sam said.

* * *

After departing the airport and replacing their disguises with their own clothes, the gang rode the van, which was brought by airplane, into the Australian Outback. The trip was rough for those awake and those trying to sleep. Luna was suffered the most since she was raised in a luxurious lifestyle. Justin was having the most fun driving the van on the bumpy road of the Outback.

When the gang arrived to the Guru's home, they saw what the miners did to the land. Machines dug into the land in search for opals.

"I can barely believe that people can be so greedy." Sam said as she watched miners work.

"Like my dad said, 'It's the cultural insensitive.'" Belle said, remembering her father's patience to environmental destruction.

"We need to rescue the Guru." Justin said, knowing how important the Guru was to his father.

"Belle," Luna said, "do you know where the hideout is at?"

"Yeah, I do. Just follow me." Belle said.

* * *

At the old base, the gang discussed on what to do first. Each member had his or her own idea. Rad wanted to do some recon. Justin wanted to decrease the playing field by a few guards or miners. Belle wanted to find allies from the local wildlife. Mar wanted to find the Guru. Luna wanted to take over one of the miners' place of rest. Sam wanted to find out who the leader of the miners was.

After a few minutes, Belle spoke out. "Okay, let's think about this: Each of us has an idea, so we can try to put all of them together."

"That's a great idea." Luna said, "It can keep the gang under control and everybody can use their idea."

"I'll do an aerial recon to get an idea." Belle announced.

"That would be a good idea," Sam said, "but there are two flaws to it: One, there is one helicopter, and two, it's dropping bombs."

"Good point." Belle said, disappointed.

"Don't worry," Rad said with a sly grin, "I have an idea."

The group gathered around the raccoon to listen to the plan.

* * *

4: 15 a.m. – Recon begins

Rad was on the tightrope, talking to the others viva binocucom. He had already searched two areas where the Guru would be with no luck.

"Guys, I'm started to think the Guru was captured." Rad said in concern.

"_OH NO!" _Mar's voice yelled though the commutation line, _"THE GURU'S A GONER!"_

"Sam, please pick up." Rad begged.

"Rad, please don't beg; you're making yourself look stupid." Sam's voice said to the whining Cooper.

"Sorry, I didn't know you were listening." Rad said, trying to excuse his behavior.

"Making excuses? That's just sad." Sam said, "But, back to the job, have you tried the large building on the other side of the valley?"

"No," Rad said as looked toward the mentioned building, "and thanks for pointing that out."

"No prob." Sam responded, "Over and out."

Rad putted the binocucom into his red backpack and started off to the building. As he used the tightropes, wall hooks, hooks, and the top of the make shift buildings to make his way to building that Sam mentioned, he saw something like a stockade.

'_That would be the perfect place to keep the Guru.' _Rad thought, _'But I'll need some photos of the miners and their boss, if we need to release the Guru.'_

Rad climbed his way to the top of a crane and use the parachute to float to the building. Then, he climbed to the building's roof. He discovered the roof was made of a thick layer of tampered glass. The young thief was careful not to be seen by any room in the room below.

In the room of metal, there were two people in the room. One was a dingo that looked like a miner. The other was an alligator, and she did not look like a miner. She looked more the miner's boss.

Rad knew that the duo was talking, so he used Belle's invention to listen to the conversation. He pressed his index finger of his left hand onto the glass roof and placed his right hand over his commutation line in his ear. The eavesdropper gloves were useful for listening to conversations that others would not found good to speak in public, or in front of children.

"So, everything's going to plan?" Asked the alligator in a Cajun accent.

"Yes, Mz. Sapphire." Answered the dingo in an Australian accent.

"And the Guru?" Mz. Sapphire asked.

"He's still in the stockade with no weapons." The miner responded.

"Prefect, no one in our way to corner the market in opals." The excited alligator said, "I'm so happy that I'll give everyone a raise, don't you think, Ger."

"I don't know." Ger said.

Mz. Sapphire smiled, "That's good. You and your men will get the raise."

Ger was shocked and said, "Why, thank you."

"Tell your men to take a break at the lemonade bar, they deserve it." Mz. Sapphire commanded.

"Yes ma'am!" Said the eager dingo. And with that, ran out of the room.

Rad has heard enough. He had all the information that he needed to rescue the Guru. The raccoon backtracked back to the stockade that he saw earlier. When he arrived at the stockade, he made sure that guards or miners were coming. When the coast was clear, he jumped to the 'door' of the stockade.

"Hello? Guru? I know you don't know me, but you knew my dad, Sly Cooper." Rad said, trying to see the Guru.

Then, something moved and it surprised Rad. At first, it was like a shadow, then as the creature moved towards to the spooked Cooper, it became more koala like.

"Guru?" Rad said, still frightened by the sudden movement.

In the light, an elderly aboriginal koala was in Rad's sight. Rad was curious of the koala since he had never saw the Guru in his life. He had one question: "Are you the Guru?"

The koala answered his native language, but Rad understood what the elder said.

"Whew. For a moment, I thought I was in trouble." Rad said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

The Guru asked Rad a question in his language, and again Rad understood him.

"What I said is true: I'm Sly Cooper's only son." Rad answered with more confidence, "So, what happened?"

The Guru started to tell Rad about what had happened to his land and of his capture.

* * *

After Rad told the group what the Guru told him, the gang was dumbfounded.

"I can't believe this!" Mar said in almost pure rage.

"I can." Luna said with a concerned look on her face, "Mz. Sapphire is not only a jewel hunter and thief, she's the daughter of Mz. Ruby. Do you guys know about her?"

"Yes, we do." Sam said.

Belle spoke up, "I did some recon by remote control helicopter, and I made a slide show."

Rad gave a large sigh. He knew how much Belle liked to make slides for a slide show. "Okay, let's see it."

At the second that finished his statement, Belle dashed out of the room. In the next few minutes, the noise of stuff being gathered could be heard from the room Belle entered. Belle came back to the group, carrying the slide machine.

After Belle got everything set up, she asked, "Can someone turn off the light?"

Sam was the one who turned off the light. Belle turned on the projector to a blank wall. It showed a picture of Mz. Sapphire.

"This is our opponent, Mz. Sapphire. She is the reason the Guru is imprisoned in a stockade." The picture was switched with a picture of the Guru. "The Guru will not leave his cage until we retrieve his Moon Stone and walking staff. These items are separated and placed into a mine. We need two of our best thieves to get the items from the cave, which would be Rad and Sam."

"Okay." Rad confirmed his involvement in the mission.

"Sounds easy enough." Sam accepted.

The next picture was one of a door at one of the mine sights. Belle continued, "This a doorway to the underground storage of the opals that were collected. We need to find a to get the door open so we can steal the opals when we make our getaway. This job is for Justin and Luna."

"Cool." Justin said coolly.

"All right." Luna said with a confident grin.

The picture was now of a giant truck. Belle resumed, "The Guru also will not leave until we have cleared out a mine and I have a pretty good idea, thanks to the last time the Cooper Gang was here, and I'll need Rad and Justin for this job."

"I'm in." Rad said.

"Me too." Justin agreed.

The final picture was of the Guru. Belle said, "Finally, we need to return the Moon Stone and walking staff to him so he can help Mar to slow down the work of the miners. I'll help them by pointing out the weak points of the machines."

"Good news." Mar said.

"Okay, everyone." Rad announced, "We have a big day tomorrow. We need to rest up for the jobs, so off to bed."

Belle turned off the projector and followed the others. Sam was the only one that did not go to bed.

"You better get to bed yourself, Rad." Sam said.

"I know, but I'm kind of worried about tomorrow." Rad said with a worried look on his face.

Sam walked to the sulking raccoon, placed her left hand on his shoulder and her right on his chest, and said, "Don't worry. You're the most recent member of the Cooper clan, so you can't mess it up." Then she kissed him on the cheek.

Rad smiled, thankful that Sam's pep talk helped, including the kiss. "Thanks, Sam."

"You're welcome." Sam said with a small smile on her face. "And the kiss is a bonus for being cute." Then, the smiling feline ran to her room.

Rad was dumbfounded by the cat's actions. He folded his arms together and said, "I've got to think of a way to really thank her, because I can't steal that kiss idea." And with that, he went to bed.

Next chapter: Down Under Thunder, Day 1


	5. Down Under Thunder, Day One

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

Chapter 4: Down Under Thunder, Day 1

Australia, 6: 12 a.m.

The next day of the Cooper X Gang's arrival, the plan is soon in motion. Rad, still a little worried about the mission, waited for Sam at the small kitchen nook. Sam was halfway down the stairs when Rad called to her.

"Hey, Sam." Rad said to get Sam's attention. It worked.

"Morning, Rad." Sam responded.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure"

Rad cleared his throat and whispered the question: "Are you ready?"

Sam just shook her head, and said, "I'm ready. But, the real question is are you ready?"

Rad blushed at Sam's statement. He knew that Sam was right about it. Sam knew that Rad was really nervous about the mission.

"Rad, if you feel scared or nervous about the job, remember that I'm going with you." Sam said, trying to comfort Rad.

Rad was still nervous about the job. Then, the two thieves heard 'kissy' noises. They turned their heads to see Justin making the noises with his lips.

"Come on." Justin said eagerly, "Kiss already."

Sam saw no amusement at Justin's joke, so she grabbed a book and threw it at Justin. Justin dodged the projectile, and then stuck his tongue at the furious feline. Sam threw another book at Justin, and the taunting husky dodged it. Justin started to laugh at Sam. Little did Justin knew that Sam was had taken her shoes off of her feet and tied the laces of her shoes together. Sam threw the makeshift weapon at Justin. The next thing that Justin knew was a pair of blue and white tennis shoes hit him in the face. Sam and Rad were the ones laughing at Justin's dismay.

"Well, you know what they say:" Sam said.

"Yeah, 'The third time's the charm.'" Rad finished.

"Well, if that's quite enough, we can get started."

Sam and Rad stopped laughing to see a stone faced Belle at the top of the stairs. Sam knew that Belle was right, for the gang had a few jobs to do that day.

"All right," Sam confirmed the green haired mouse, "let's get started."

5:00 p.m. Day one the setup begins.

Rad, Sam, Justin, and Luna were on their way to the jobs they were to do that day. They stopped at the first of the mines that Rad and Sam were to steal from.

"Remember," Rad said, "this is our first job, so be careful."

"Understood." Justin said before running off with Luna to their job.

Then, Rad turned to Sam, and said, "Let's go."

Sam just nodded to agree with him. So, the raccoon and the cat entered the mine.

The mine was dark with some light in it. Rad and Sam knew there were guards in the cave.

"This might get tough, Sam." Rad said to his feline friend, "Before we do this, I want to say something to you."

Sam gave Rad a curious look, and asked, "What?"

Before Rad could say anything, a voice broke though the ear commutation line.

"What are you two doing?" Belle said loudly.

"Nothing." The thieves answered.

"Well, get the Moon Stone and make it quick. More guards might be on their way to your position."

"Understood, Belle. Over and out." Rad responded.

Sam grinned and said, "Let's see if the guards are smarter than the ones your dad faced."

"Right." Rad said, while grinning a Cooper grin.

It took the duo a few minutes to find something that the Moon Stone could be hidden in. Rad picked the lock, while Sam looked out for any guards.

A few moments later, Rad had the Moon Stone.

"Let's hope that none of the guards know we're here." Sam said as the duo made their escape.

"We have to hurry. The Moon Stone is attached to a light-sensitive bomb." Rad said as he held the stone, "If we don't get out of the cave soon, we're going to be all over the mine."

"Right." Sam said as she and Rad ran to the mine entrance.

The thieves heard a voice ring though out the mine.

"Intruders! Intruders!"

"Looks like they found us." Rad said with a concerned look on his face.

"But," Sam said with confident look on her face, "they're not going to catch us."

The raccoon and cat team ran though the mine and encountered a few dingoes and kangaroos, all of them miners.

"You two waggas aren't leaving." One of the miners said as he approached them.

"Yeah?" Sam said, "Said that to my whip."

The feline used her whip to attack, pound, or hit any and every miner that came within one foot of her and Rad.

Rad used the Cooper Cane to defend himself and Sam if any miners managed to avoid Sam's whip. But, Rad knew that time was running out on the bomb.

"Sam, we need to get outta here quick!" Rad said as Sam finished off the last attacking miner.

"Let's go then!" Sam yelled as the duo ran to the cave entrance.

Rad saw the entrance within a few seconds of running.

"_The entrance!_" Rad thought. "_We need to hurry!_"

"Over there!" Sam announced to Rad.

The thieves ran towards the entrance.

"_Thirty seconds._" Rad thought.

Rad ran faster and faster, knowing that at any second the bomb was going to blow up. The timer kept counting down. Rad looked at the timer again.

"_Twenty seconds until the bang._" Rad thought as he ran.

He knew that Sam was becoming anxious. Sam used her whip to swing from place to place as Rad used the Cooper Cane to do the same. Rad looked at the timer for the third time.

"Ten seconds!" Rad yelled to Sam.

"We're near the exit!" Sam shouted back.

The team of two ran faster to get outside, so the bomb would power down.

Five.

Rad ran towards the exit, but trips on a rock.

Four.

Rad threw the bomb-strapped stone to Sam, who saw him falling down.

Three.

Sam catches the stone and finishes the run to the entrance.

Two.

Sam jumps out of the cave and to the hot Outback sun.

One.

"Too late!" Rad said as Sam leaped out to the mine, and covered his head and ears.

But, no explosion came. The realization of the lack of noise made Rad jump to his feet and ran outside.

Outside, Rad saw Sam, who breathing several sighs of relief. In Sam's hand, there were the stone and a powered down bomb.

"If the stone was tough, then I'm looking forward about the stick." Sam announced to her co-worker.

"Okay, to the next cave." Rad said as he pointed his cane to the direction of the mine.

At the entrance of the second mine, Rad and Sam was looking at the opening of the mine for anything that might jeopardize the job.

"Let's hope you don't trip again." Sam said, remembering Rad's fall.

"Ha ha." Rad said, annoyed that Sam mentioned about the fall.

Sam shook her head, and said, "Let's go."

They entered the mine and found out that the mine they were in was pitch black.

"I can't see anything, not even my hand in front of my face." Sam said.

"Not to worry." Rad said. As he spoke, he pulled out the Moon Stone from his dad's red backpack. The stone had a glow that was bright enough for the two of them to see.

"Whoa," Sam said in astonishment, "I didn't know the stone could do that."

"My dad used it in the same way." Rad bragged out with the Cooper grin. Sam wasn't impressed a lot after the brag.

"We have a walking stick to find, not a impression." Sam said, waiting for Rad to go deeper into the cave, removing the grin.

"Okay, it got chilly in here just now." Rad said as he rubbed his arms as if they were cold. Then, he started to walk into the darker parts of the cave with Sam following him.

As they did in the last cave, they found a safe, which did have the Guru's walking stick in it. Rad noticed that something was wrong.

"Uh-o."

Sam heard Rad's word, and immediately knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" Sam asked nervously, "A bomb?"

"That's the good news: There's no bomb." Rad said.

"And the bad news?" Sam asked with a whine in her voice.

"We got company coming." Rad answered.

Sam and Rad towards the cave's entrance. As they ran, the miners attacked them. Sam and Rad used the attack method, that they had used in the other mine to defeat the miners.

"Aw, no more?" Rad asked in a fake whine.

"Yep," Sam confirmed, "let's go."

The duo continued their dash out of the mine. As the two of them stepped outside, Sam took a deep breath of the hot Outback air.

"Enjoying ourselves?" Rad asked with the Cooper grin on his face.

Sam answered with a "Yep."

Sam started to head towards the safe house with the Moon Stone and walking staff in her bag, but she stopped. Rad became confused at Sam's action. Then, Sam ran back to Rad and hugged him.

"Please, be careful." Sam whispered.

As Sam started towards the safe house, Rad said, "See ya at the hideout."

Sam ran back to the safe house, still feeling Rad's body against her own body, and how it remains her of her father before he died.

Rad ran to the giant truck as he saw Justin running to the same place.

"Hey, Just!" Rad yelled to his pink haired friend.

Justin waved back as the two of them raced to their next destination.

"Hey, there's Belle." Justin yelled to Rad.

Rad just smiled as he thought, '_That girl's is the best friend a guy can ask for._'

"Hey, guys!" Belle said as they climbed to the top of the truck, "What took you guys so long?"

"Give us a few minutes." Justin said as he easily scaled the huge truck, "We 're still on our way."

Belle waited until Rad and Justin had climbed to the top of the truck.

"Okay," Belle said, "what took you guys so long?"

Rad gave Belle a hard glare, and said, "Would you be here earlier if you were being chased by miners?"

"Or if you were in a fight against a recently resurrected Mask of Dark Earth." Justin added.

"Okay, okay, I get it, guys." Belle said as she walked to the truck's interior.

Justin followed his long-time friend to the driver's seat. Rad entered into the backseat of the giant automobile.

Justin started the machine, after he hot-wired the truck. Rad and Belle braced themselves as Justin shifted the gear into drive. Justin was infamous as a crazy driver when he was driving big automobiles.

"YAHOO!" Justin yelled as he drove.

"Oh, no." Rad and Belle said in unison as Justin shifted the truck into second gear.

As the truck finally stopped at the target mine's location, Justin turned to his friends, and said, "We're here."

His two friends were too frightened by Justin's driving to speak, much less yell at him.

"Sorry." Justin apologized to his friends.

Belle was the first to recover from Justin's driving. She has been though more of Justin's 'crazy' drives than Rad did.

"That's okay." Belle said, as dizziness was in her eyes.

Rad, who suffered the most from the ride, said, "I don't know about that."

Belle shook her head, and explained the plan for the miners to her friends.

Rad had completely recovered from the ride when Belle finished explaining the plan. Belle gave Rad two cards as he shook his head.

"What are these?" Rad asked as he took the cards from Belle's hand.

"These are the security cards, which the guards use to operate the machinery after our dads caused a lot of damage here." Belle explained to Rad.

Rad, with a sly grin, asked, "How did you do it?"

"A few darts here and picked a few pockets there." Belle said as she blushed.

"Alright!" Rad announced as he started to leave the truck.

"Good luck." Belle said to Rad.

"Don't worry about me." Rad responded, "Just make sure that Justin doesn't overdo the driving."

And with that, the young raccoon exited the truck.

When Rad finally got to the controls, he had already knocked out the guards. He pulled the lever, which caused the drill to dig deeper into the earth.

Justin had an easy part in the job: catch giant scorpions using the truck's E-brake. Belle was there to remind Justin that he was supposed to catch the red scorpions, and not the blue ones.

Justin managed to get twenty of them before he dumped them into the mine.

Justin drove the giant automobile to the drill to pick up Rad, and drove back to the valley.

The trio returned to the valley and to the hideout. After Rad, Belle, and Justin returned, Mar grabbed the items, ran to the Guru's prison. It took Mar a half an hour, but he made it to the stockade in one piece.

"Guru, it's me, Mar." The worried rat called quietly.

The Guru came out of the darkness of his prison and answered Mar in his native language.

"Here is are your mystical items." Rad announced as he returned the items to the Guru.

The Guru spoke more to Mar. Mar understood what he said.

"I did hear about Justin and Luna fighting against someone who had the Mask of Dark Earth." Mar confirmed.

The Guru spoke again.

"I know," Mar agreed, "with all the stuff that's been happening, I can understand."

The Guru spoke to warn Mar.

"A guard?" Mar said, "I'll hide."

Mar ran off to hide in a bush as a dingo guard came into the stockade gate.

The guard looked inside the prison and saw no one in the stockade, not even the prisoner.

"What the-?" The guard exclaimed before climbing the gate.

The Guru waited until the guard had his back turned to him. Then, the Guru jumped onto the dingo's back, taking over his mind.

"All right, Guru!" Mar said quietly.

Then, the Guru drove the dingo into the gate, freeing the Guru and knocking out the guard. Mar revealed himself to the liberated mystic.

"That was amazing!" Mar exclaimed to his mentor, "But, we have to do a few things before we can go to the safe house."

The Guru nodded, then he followed his student to where to start their job.

Mar and the Guru arrived to the generator, that powered the heavy machinery in the valley.

"That's big." Mar said as he saw the machine.

The Guru agreed in his language.

"Hey, guys." Belle said through via earpiece.

Mar placed his finger onto the earpiece, and said, "Hi, Belle."

"What's your post?" Belle asked professionally.

"We're at the generator area." Mar answered.

"Okay," Belle said, "you know what to do."

"Yep." Was Mar's answer.

"Okay, over and out" Belle said.

Mar removed his finger off the earpiece and turned to his mentor.

"Let's go, Guru." Mar said.

The Guru nodded to Mar.

"Hey!" a gruff voice yelled at them.

Mar and the Guru turned to see a kangaroo guard.

Mar grinned as he said, "Victim number one's coming right up."

The guard attacked the two. The Guru hid while Mar taunted the guard by dodging his punches.

"Hold still, Wagga!" The guard yelled at Mar.

The Guru jumped onto the kangaroo's back, taking over the guard's mind. Mar jumped out of the way of the controlled kangaroo. The guard ran towards the generator. The guard kept on running even after the Guru had jumped off of him.

"Let's get outta here!" Mar yelled to the Guru.

Mar had run of five seconds when an explosion came from the generator. Mar and the Guru looked back and saw the flames danced around the generator.

"Let's go." Mar said.

The Guru agreed with Mar in his language. Then, they heard a noise.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Then from the sky, the kangaroo guard fell out of the sky and landed in front of them. He groaned as lay on the ground.

"I hate to be that guy right now." Mar said to the Guru.

The Guru laughed in agreement with Mar before they went to the safe house.

8:00 p.m. Day one setup completed.

In the safe house, the gang, including the Guru and Mar, was preparing the next part of the operation.

"Can someone help me with the projector?" Belle asked as she struggled with the machine.

"I help." Mar volunteered as he got up from his chair.

Mar nearly ran to the green haired mouse, and he grabbed the projector.

"Thanks, Mar." Belle said, relieved.

"No prob." Mar replied as he carried the projector from Belle's arms to the table.

Belle started to blush as the others entered the room.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked as she walked near the shy mouse.

Belle's face changed to another shade of red when she heard Sam's question.

Sam, who was oblivious to Belle's blushing being a sign of affection, placed her hand on Belle's forehand. Belle was a little shocked at Sam's action.

"Sam?"

"Yeah, Belle?"

"What are you doing?"

"Checking if you're sick. Why?"

Belle drew in a breathe of relief.

"Don't worry, Sam. I'm not ill."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked in concern, "You look a little red."

"It's nothing, really." Belle said, trying to reinsure the feline.

"Okay." Sam said, very unsure about her friend's well being.

Belle walked to the table, where Mar placed the projector, and started the machine.

"Lights off!" Belle commanded.

"Right!" Rad said as he turned off the lights.

"Thank you." Belle said to Rad before she started talking about the jobs for the next day.

"Okay, we all know by know that Mz. Sapphire has possibly resurrected the Mask of Dark Earth."

The picture was of Mz. Sapphire.

"From the last Cooper Gang's exploits, the Mask of Dark Earth was destroyed after having it pulled off of Inspector Fox's face, which happened after a failed attempt to destroy it with a Thunder Flop."

The next picture was of the last Cooper Gang: Sly, Murry, Bently, and the Guru.

"That's funny every time I hear that story." Justin said.

"Yeah." Rad agreed.

"As I was saying," Belle said, "I have a plan to stop Mz. Sapphire and destroy The Mask of Dark Earth at the same time."

"First, if we want to purposely repeat history, we have to get explosives."

The next picture was of a group of oil wells.

"There're several containers of high explosives at the oil wells. We need those who have strength out their side as well as a friend who can operate the claw."

"I'm in." Rad said.

"Same here." Justin said.

Belle resumed, "Second, we need to thin out the ranks of miners, and we have some help. Mar, Luna, and Guru, are you up for it?"

Mar and the Guru nodded while Luna said, "Let's do it."

Belle continued, "Finally, we need to hit where they rest. At the local lemonade bar, we need to cause a riot, and we have a secret weapon."

Belle turned to Sam with a cocky grin on her face. The others started to look at a confused Sam.

It took Sam a moment until she realized what Belle meant by 'secret weapon.'

"No way!" Sam announced to her co-workers, folding her arms across her chest.

"No worries, Sam." Belle said to the reluctant feline, "Rad will be behind you, and that is the last job for the day."

"He better be there." Sam warned Belle.

"Okay. Sam, can you turn on the lights, please?" Belle asked.

Sam turned on the lights.

"Only, any questions?" Belle asked.

"Not me." Rad announced.

"Don't look here." Luna said.

Justin and Mar shook their heads. Sam kept quiet.

"Okay, let's rest up for tomorrow." Belle announced before retiring to her room.

Sam stayed behind as one by one the others retired themselves to their rooms.

Rad asked, placing his face in front of Sam's face, "What's wrong, Sam?"

Sam sighed, trying to ignore Rad, but Rad was persistent.

"Sam," Rad said firmly, "you won't feel better if you hold it all in."

Sam gave in and said; "I just don't feel all right about my job tomorrow."

"Don't worry." Rad said, "I'll be there to protect you."

Then, Rad embraced Sam, who blushed at the moment he touched her.

"_It's so much like being in my dad's arms again."_ Sam thought as soon as she was embraced.

Sam started to cry, which was something she has not done in years since her parents were killed. Rad felt the warm tears on his shirt, so he held Sam closer to himself.

"I promise you that I'll protect you." Rad said as Sam continued to cry.

Next chapter: Down Under Thunder, Day 2


	6. Down Under Thunder, Day Two

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter 5: Down Under Thunder, Day 2

Australia, 7:00 a.m.

The gang was downstairs, eating breakfast, and talking about their jobs. Sam was the only one who did not talk to the others.

"What's wrong this time?" Belle asked with a piece of toast in her hand.

Sam looked at her friend and answered, "I still not feeling okay about the job."

Belle thought for a moment, then she said, "How about I go with you?"

"What?" a shocked feline almost shouted.

"Are you sure about that?" Rad said after taking a drink of milk from his glass.

The others looked at Belle like as had received an 'B' on an exam.

"What?" Belle asked the others.

"What you're planning to do is for people whom can survive on their own." Justin said to his friend.

"I know." Belle confirmed.

"And Sam's the most qualified for that job." Luna added.

"I know." The mouse repeated herself.

"Hey, this is her choice." Sam said protecting Belle, "And with her there, I can be more comfortable about being there."

The others were quiet for a moment or so before answering the two girls.

"Okay," Mar said, still unsure about Belle going to the lemonade bar, "but I have a bad feeling about this, thought."

The others nodded in an agreement.

"We're not going to stop you, Belle." Rad said, walking away.

"Thanks." Belle said as the others left her and Sam alone.

"No prob," Sam said with an honest smile, "What are pals for?"

"Backstabbing?" Belle joked.

Sam, however, did not understand the joke. Thinking she really meant what she said, the shocked feline asked, "Really?!"

Belle noticing her friend's reaction, started to apologize.

"I'm sorry; it was a joke! I didn't mean!"

"Whoa!" Sam told her friend, "Calm down. I hear what you're saying to me, but remember: I'm not used to that kind of jokes. Understand?"

Belle giggled.

"Understood."

At noon, Sam looked out of her window to the dusty Outback. She saw how far the mining operation has gone and retracted. The cat was so deep in her thoughts that she did not notice Luna entering the room.

"Hi, Sam." Luna said, bringing the feline back to reality.

"What?" Sam asked as if she was just released from a trance, "Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you come in."

"Don't worry." Luna said to Sam, "It's happens to the best of us. If I remember correctly, you said, 'Most people turn into idiots when they see the place.'"

The feline blushed at the fact that her co-worker quoted something she said to Rad.

"That's right." Sam agreed with her friend.

"I'm here, looking for my MP3, but I did want to talk to you." Luna informed to Sam.

"Okay, speak your mind." The feline lazily commanded.

"You're allowing Belle to go with you on a mission?" Luna asked.

Sam nodded her head.

"Well, Justin told me that Belle is like a little sister to him and Rad, even after her parents took her out of kindergarten." Luna informed with a worried look on her face.

"Really?" The feline asked, "Why did they pull her out of school?"

"Well," Luna informed, "they were really scared that the police would use her to find them because they're wanted criminals before Belle was born."

"But, how did they keep their friendship so strong?" Sam asked like a curious child.

"Justin's dad and Belle's dad are good friends and members of the old Cooper Gang. Justin knows her very well."

"That's kinda cool." The feline commented.

"I think so too." Luna agreed.

"But, was Sly Cooper a member of the Cooper Gang before ours?" Sam asked.

"Yes, and I can't tell ya." Luna stated.

"Why?"

"I never learned about that." Luna answered.

"Well, that stinks." Sam said, disappointed.

"Yep." The white wolf agreed.

"Can I par take in this conversation?" Rad's voice rang into the girls' ears.

Sam and Luna turned to the door, and saw Rad standing outside the room with a grin on his face.

"What do you want?" Sam asked the suave raccoon.

"I want to talk to you," He said. Then, he turned to Luna and said with a more serious tone, "alone."

Luna got the message, and said, "Right. I'll be leaving now."

Luna left as fast as she can, leaving Sam and Rad alone.

"Rad, if you're upset at the fact that Belle is coming with me on the job-"

Sam was stopped by Rad's finger that covered her mouth.

"That's not what I want to talk to you about." Rad said as he removed his finger from the feline's mouth.

Sam recovered from the raccoon's action and asked, "Then, what is it?"

Rad sat down beside the cat and started to talk.

"Remember last night? You fell into my arms and started to cry. What's wrong?"

The feline tried to inch away from the investigating raccoon, but his arm, which grabbed her and pulled her back closer to him, stopped her.

"Come on, Sam." Rad stated, "I've known you for over a month, and I've never seen you like you did last night. Can you at least tell what you're feeling?"

Sam did not speak for a few moments, and then she said as tears stated to roll down her face, "There's something about you, and I feel really familiar about it."

"Really?" Rad asked the now-crying cat.

Sam nodded as she continued, "I've felt I little lonely for sometime, although I'm with good friends. Then, you and your friends came, and started feeling it."

"So, what does it remind you of?" The concerned thief asked to his co-worker.

"My dad." Was the answer the cat said.

The raccoon was surprised to hear that he reminds her of the father that was lost ten years earlier. He did empathize with her; his dad lost his parents at the same age as Sam.

"I'm sorry." Rad said hesitantly.

"What for? You did nothing." Sam stated.

"I wish I didn't remind you of your father." Rad replied honestly.

Sam said nothing, but she placed her head onto the raccoon's shoulder. The tears started to stain his shirt, but he did not care. All he wanted to do is comfort her.

"I wish you didn't say that." The tearful cat announced to Rad.

"What do you mean?" The raccoon asked.

"I'm very glad that you remind me of daddy, and I wouldn't exchange that for anything." Sam said as she continued to cry.

Rad blushed as the young feline cried onto his shoulder. Then, he pulled Sam closer to his chest, letting the tears stain the front of his shirt.

Outside the door, Luna saw the whole event.

"Poor Sam." The white wolf said as she walked away.

5:00 p.m. – Day two finishing up begins

Rad and Justin were at the oil wells when Belle called them via earpiece.

"Hey, guys. You better be ready for this job. There're groups of miners over there, waiting for some moron to come along to pound the living daylights out of them." Belle informed the thieves.

"Understood." Rad confirmed.

"Right! We're on it!" Justin exclaimed.

"Okay, over and out." Belle said before she left the communications line.

The boys nodded at each other and ran in different directions. Rad ran to a giant claw machine, while Justin ran to the oil grounds.

Rad just seated himself in the seat when he saw several dingoes running towards Justin.

"Boy, when Belle finds info, she finds info." Rad said to himself.

He started the engine of the claw, warning Justin of the danger he may face.

"You shouldn't be here." One of the miners informed the young husky, "You can get hurt."

"Threats don't scare me." Justin announced to the miners.

"All right," The dingo said, "have it your way."

The leader whistled, and the other miners attacked Justin. Justin dodged five fists at his body; the sixth fist hit its mark. The husky fell onto the ground.

"Ow!" Justin exclaimed in pain.

Back in the claw, Rad said, "Coming, Just." And he moved some shifts to move the claw.

The claw obeyed and picked up one of the miners, distracting the others. This gave Justin the chance to strike at the miners.

"Feel my fury!" The large husky announced to his victims.

The miners turned around, only to receive a bombardment of punches to multiple parts of their bodies. One miner was even kicked under the belt

Another of the attackers was about to hit Justin with a club, but Rad intervened and dropped the miner that was held up by the claw, landing on the attacking enemy.

After the carnage, ten dingoes and nine kangaroos laid in a pile, as Justin was the last one standing.

"You thought you could defeat the spawn of 'The Murry!'" Justin victoriously declared to the fallen miners, "The next time you pick on a person, beware for I might be that person!"

"Hey, 'Spawn of The Murry,'" Rad spoke via earpiece, "start loading the barrels. We don't have very much time before more miners come, looking for a fight."

"Right, chum!" the husky said and ran to the barrels to pick them up.

'_Man, when he gets excited, he transforms into a version of his dad.'_ Rad thought as he watched for more miners.

Justin managed to get twenty barrels of high explosives on the claw when more miners came to the oil fields.

"See what I mean." Rad said, "Fight a few guys from a gang, you'll have the whole gang after you."

"No joke." Justin agreed as he watched the larger group of miners ran towards them.

"You know," The raccoon thief stated, "we can thin out the miners' ranks a bit."

"Good point." Justin agreed with a semi-fiendish grin on his face.

The duo prepared for the battle with the miners.

When the miners came to the place Rad and Justin was at, they were beyond furious. A miner stepped towards the two young thieves.

"You two aren't leaving here 'til we pound ya to a plop!" One of them declared loudly.

"Really?" Justin asked sarcastically.

"If you don't believe us, you're dead meat." Another miner spoke.

"You don't frighten us." Rad announced to the angry miners.

"Oh, yeah, Wagga?" The first asked, "Let's show them how to be scared, mates."

"YEAH!" the others yelled as they ran towards the two friends.

Justin dodged many punches and kicks. Rad brought out his cane and started to defend himself as the miners attacked.

"Wow, these guys are mad." The raccoon said as he avoided a direct hit.

"Tell me about it." Justin said as he delivered a painful punch to a dingo.

Rad ducked from a flying punch and hit another miner with a good swing of the cane. Justin knocked out several miners as they tried to gang up on the husky. One miner climbed up a piece of machinery in an attempt to attack Justin. The Cooper heir saw this and took out a rifle that looked very similar to a shock pistol. Rad aimed and fired; it hit its mark and stunned the miner. The miner fell off the machine with a scream. Justin heard this.

"Good shot, Rad!" The powerful husky yelled to his friend.

"That one was easy!" The raccoon yelled back.

Rad almost did not notice a gigantic miner trying to sneak up on him. The raccoon dodged the hit by doing a double jump. Then, he landed on the ground and dodged another hit.

"_This guy is gonna be tough to beat." _Rad thought as he dodged a few more punches.

The miner was about to attack Rad again when the miner stopped in his tracks. He fell to the ground, revealing that Justin was behind him.

"Good timing, pal." Rad said as he gave his friend a thumbs-up.

"Not a problem." The great husky responded before leaving to finish off the rest of the miners.

Rad sat back and watched his friend fight off the remaining attackers, which took Justin a few minutes.

When the husky finished his work, the raccoon thief ran to his friend and said, "Let's get while the going's good."

"Right!" Justin said before running to the claw.

"Rad! Just!" Belle yelled out of joy as she ran to embrace her two oldest friends.

"Hi, Belle." The boys responded as they were hugged.

Sam and Luna giggled among themselves as the green haired mouse released the boys. Mar showed a grin as he watched the events.

Rad regained his composure before he asked, "Mar, Luna, Guru, are you guys ready?"

"Yep." Luna called out.

"Ready." Mar answered.

The Guru responded in his native language.

"Good." The raccoon said as a grin appeared on his face.

Mar, Luna, and the Guru just made their way to the giant truck when Belle called in via earpiece.

"Hey, guys. How are things so far?" Belle asked.

Luna answered, "We haven't started let."

"Sorry."

"That's okay. So what's the plan?"

The white wolf heard her friend clear her throat. Then, Belle started to explain the job.

"This job requires the three of you to lure guards to submission. How to do this is simple: the Guru will lure the guards to the machinery, then Luna and Mar will take them out."

"Okay," Luna said, "Lure, attack, and defeat. That's sounds simple enough."

"Okay, over and out." Belle announced.

Luna removed her ear from the earpiece, turned to her fellow thieves, and said, "Let's go."

The wolf ran towards the machinery site with Mar and the Guru close behind her.

When the trio reached their destination, they saw a few miners were there, goofing off.

"Well, the Guru's job is goin' to be easy." Luna said quietly.

The Guru nodded, then he ran off to the guards. The guards heard the Guru approach them, turned around and saw nothing.

Behind the rocks, Luna and Mar are trying to hold back their laughter for they knew that the Guru disguised himself as part of the environment. Some of the guards looked around for the mystic for a few moments before they gave up.

"I guess it was our imagination." One kangaroo guard said to his co-workers.

"Yeah, I guess so." A dingo miner announced, "I just wished that I imagined that it was a pretty shela, mate."

"Yeah." Another dingo laughed out, "I know that would only happen in your dreams."

The group of dingoes and kangaroos were laughing at the joke when a female voice introduced its owner.

"Hello, boys."

The miners ceased their laughter and turned to see Luna standing next to a boulder. The guards' jaws dropped at seeing the white wolf's beautiful body.

"Well, I be! A shela right here!" A dingo announced to his fellow miners.

"Come and get some." Luna said, declaring that she was ready.

The guards ran towards to the young wolf, not knowing their fate was sealed by their desire for a young lady friend for personally reasons.

"Bye-bye." Luna said as she revealed her harpoon gun to the miners.

The guards were shocked at the fact that the girl, who revealed herself to them, would have a weapon on her person. Then, Mar and the Guru showed themselves, and each took control a miner.

"All right, let's get started!" the rat yelled to his friends, signaling to attack the guards.

"Good news to me." Luna said with a nasty grin.

The miners started to attack the trio. Luna put away her weapon and started to punch miners left and right. Mar and the Guru, using the miners they controlled, attacked the guards.

After the battle, many miners were laying on the ground either knocked out or near that state. The others ran off, leaving Luna, Mar, and the Guru.

"Hey, guys. What's going on?"

Luna heard Belle's voice, and it does not sound too good.

"We're just beating up some miners." The wolf answered honestly.

"Well, they're getting back at us by sending the guy that's wearing the Mask of Dark Earth over there." Belle said franticly.

"Good." Luna said calmly, "We need that guy dropped."

"Wait!" Belle screamed to the cocky wolf.

Her warning fell onto Luna's deaf ears as the wolf turned off the commutations line.

"This is it!" The white wolf declared to he co-workers, "We're going to drive off that mask!"

"WHAT!" Mar nearly screamed.

"We got to!" Luna said, ready to fight.

"No, we don't!" Mar argued, "I've heard stories of the Mask; it took many tries to destroy it!"

The Guru protested the idea by saying it in his language.

"Yeah, the Guru's right. There's no reason to stay here." The rat said.

A booming voice spoke to the group.

"_What's the matter? I thought you wanted to play."_

The voice was like to people talking at the same time. The trio looked and saw a giant dingo wearing the evil mask.

"_I am Ger, the one who wears the mask of Dark Earth, and the one to punish you for your crimes against Mz. Sapphire." _The dingo introduced himself.

"You're the one who's going to be punished." Luna said with confidence.

The giant dingo laughed as the mask's aura appeared around his body.

"This is bad." Mar stated as he saw the aura glowed more brilliant.

The Guru agreed as Luna ignored the warnings.

"This is going' to be fun." The wolf announced as she ran to attacked the huge miner.

The wearer of the Mask of Dark Earth dodged the attack, grabbed Luna, and pinned her to the ground. The she-wolf struggled as she tried to escape his grip.

"LUNA!" Four voices yelled out.

Luna looked up and saw the rest of the gang attack the giant dingo with a combined attack and got the miner off of her. Sam pulled grabbed the wolf's hand and pulled it, dragging her to a farther distance.

"Thanks." Said a grateful Luna to her rescuers.

Sam just glared at the wolf, Rad crossed his arms and shook his head, Justin gave the wolf a look of disappointment, but Belle was the most furious of the four rescuers.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING?! HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!"

Luna tried to answer, but she was so frightened by the fury in the normally quiet mouse.

"LOOK OUT!" Mar yelled as the dingo went to the group.

Sam ran to the dingo and attacked him. The giant dodged the assault and tried to grab the cat, but she jumped out of the way.

"_Good thing Belle improved my whip." _Sam thought as she prepared to attack again.

The feline pulled out her whip. She pressed a button that was on the hilt of the whip. Then, the tip of the whip was on fire.

"Prepare to be the first to taste my new attack: Will 'O Wisp Whip." Sam announced to the dingo.

"_Don't kid yourself, Shela."_ The oversized Ger said, _"I'm bigger, stronger, and more powerful."_

The cat shook her head and said, "So, what's new, besides the evil, magical mask?"

The dingo growled as his fur stood on edge, and his all-ready dark red eyes changed into an even darker shade of red, showing his fury.

"Let's do this!" Sam yelled to the monster dingo.

The dingo pounced at the feline. Sam used the whip to defend herself by hitting the miner in the eyes. Ger howled in pain, and his hands at the moment rushed to the damaged eyes.

"Now's our chance to stop him!" Rad announced to the gang, "Luna, Justin, grab a heavy object to hit the guy. Mar, Guru, protect Belle as she gets the bomb ready. I'll help Sam."

The others wasted no time in an assault to take down the giant that threaten their lives. Each member took their positions as the dingo recovered from the fire on his eyes.

"_You're just preparing to meet your fate, insects." _Ger exclaimed, still feeling the pain of having his eyes nearly burned.

Rad reached to Sam and picked her up, saying, "Gotta go!"

The cat followed her ally as she saw the dingo charged at them. They ran to the canine duo of Luna and Justin.

"Here they come!" Luna announced to Justin, who was holding an old engine.

"Good!" Justin said as he prepared to throw the almost useless piece of machinery.

"Ready…" The white wolf said as Sam and Rad ran pass her, "NOW!"

Justin threw the engine at the dingo in the head. It did stop the giant long enough for Rad and Sam to attack him. The raccoon used some sort of power that seems to be from the cane itself, while the feline used her fire-lit whip to trip the oversized canine.

"Now to Belle!" Rad shouted.

Sam nodded as she turned and saw that the dingo was down, but not out.

"_I'll get you!" _Ger yelled at the running thieves as he got up to chase them again.

"Over here!" Mar's voice hit Rad's ears.

The raccoon ran to the direction of the voice, and he and Sam saw Belle waving.

"Let's hope this one works." Sam said, knowing the dingo's strength against Justin's brawn.

"Don't worry." Rad said as the duo ran closer to their friends.

"Stop!" Belle yelled out.

"What?!" Rad and Sam exclaimed at the same time.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." The young mouse said.

"I hope so." Sam said as she stopped.

The two thieves ran with the huge dingo jogging right behind them. Belle placed a bomb in front of the running people.

"What is she doing?" The feline asked as she saw the action of the mouse.

"Don't worry; just follow me." The raccoon responded.

The duo ran towards the placed bomb until…

"Run in the other way." Rad yelled to Sam.

"Okay." The frighten cat answered.

The two separated from each other while Ger ran straight for Belle, Mar, and the Guru.

"_You troublemakers think you can outsmart me? Don't make me laugh."_ The giant miner announced to the gang.

"Nope." A grinning Belle said.

Then, the dingo stepped onto the bomb, causing an enormous explosion, followed by a smokescreen of dust.

"I, personally, want to make you cry." The mouse finished.

The Mask of Dark Earth fled the battle, leaving Ger to die. The gang ran into the dust and found the miner, unconscious and near death.

"Let's fix 'im up." Belle said, upset that she did not destroy the evil mask.

"Yeah, no fun to be chased by the bad guys if they're hurt." Luna said in agreement.

"I don't think so, Luna." Rad said, still upset at the wolf's actions, "I rather you stay in the safe house from a while."

Belle finished biding the dingo's wounds, and looked at her wristwatch.

"Oh, no! We're going to be late!" The mouse exclaimed.

"Really?" Sam asked calmly.

"I'm dead serious." Belle nearly yelled.

"You look alive to me." The feline said honestly.

The whole gang laughed at the response that Sam said, except Belle (She thought it was an insult), Sam (she did not know that she told a joke), and the Guru (He was confused at the whole conversation).

"Come on!" The mouse commanded as she grabbed the cat 's hand. She dragged her friend as the group continued to laugh.

"Don't worry, Sam." Rad said between laughs, "I'll tell you as soon as we're done with the last job."

At the lemonade bar, Sam and Belle go over what to do on the job.

"Okay, Sam, we need to kick these guys out." The mouse announced.

"I have an idea." The feline spoke as she walked to the bar. She almost entered the place, but stopped, turned to the mouse, and asked with a sheepish grin on her face, "Do you have any cash on you?"

"I thought you would ask that." Belle said as she reached into her pocket for money. She pulled out some bills and gave it to the cat.

"Thanks, pal." Sam said, turning back to the bar. The two friends entered the bar.

The place was a makeshift building, using wood, metal, and the side of a giant rock. The miners were enjoying their drinks until Sam and Belle entered the establishment.

"Hey, mate." One of the workers, a dingo, said upon seeing the cat, "Look at the shela that came in."

His friend, a kangaroo, looked at Sam and said, "Whoa, now that's a shela."

"Hey, let's see if she needs a drink." The dingo suggested.

"Yea," the kangaroo agreed, "She's a pretty one for a yank."

The eager miners walked up to the two friends, whom were a table getting their drink orders, and noticed that the feline, they wanted, had a friend.

"Two shelas for the both of us." The dingo obversed.

"Yeah, it makes easier; I get the cat, and you get the mouse." The kangaroo said, and he started to walk towards Sam.

"Now, wait a minute, mate." The dingo said, grabbing his co-worker by the tail, "I'll take the cat."

"What's going on boys?" Sam asked in a curious voice.

The two fighting miners looked at the cat and saw that she heard been watching one of them.

"We were wanting to know which one of us you would go out to a party." The dingo lied.

"I don't believe you completely." The feline said with a disappointed look on her face.

"Of course, you don't." the kangaroo announced.

"I'm not so sure about you either." Sam spoke to the kangaroo.

The two miners did not know what to do.

"Hey." Belle finally spoke.

The guards looked at the green haired mouse. She motioned the miners closer to her.

"If you want to date her, you have to beat her in a challenge first." Belle explained.

The guards looked at each other and nodded.

"I got an idea." The dingo said to the mouse.

"Really?" Belle asked in mock curiosity.

"Yea, shela." The cocky canine said, "Just watch."

The dingo walked to Sam, showing a grin.

"What so you want now?" the cat asked, annoyed at the miners' antics.

"How about a game?" the miner asked, still grinning.

"A game?" Sam asked, "What kind?"

"A drinking game." The dingo said, grinning bigger.

"Okay. How do you play?" The feline asked, seemly curiosity.

"How you play is simple: When I count to three, we drink, and who finishes their drink the fastest, wins."

"Sounds simple; best two out of three." Sam said eagerly.

"Good winkin'." The miner said, "Bruce, get out a round of six."

A larger dingo came to the table and gave a drink to Sam and another to the dingo.

"One, two…" The miner said.

Then, the dingo quickly drank his lemonade and slammed the mug on to the table. The cat looked surprised at the dingo.

"_This is too easy." _The miner thought as the next drink was passed to him.

"Okay, round two." Sam said, rather perky.

The dingo started to count again.

"One, two…"

He started to wolf down his lemonade, but when he slammed his mug again, he saw Sam licking her fingers with her elbow on the table. Next to the elbow was an empty mug.

"What the..?" The miner started to say.

"We still have one more round." The cat informed the bluffed miner as the drinks were given to them.

"All right." The dingo announced, "One…"

Then, he drank the beverage with great haste. When he was finished, he said, "Got ya!"

"Are you sure?" Sam asked with a grin on her face.

"You must've cheated!" the miner accused, pointing at the cat.

"I with I could agree," the kangaroo said regretfully, "but she didn't cheat, mate."

"What?!" The dingo yelled out.

"She didn't cheat, I saw her guzzle that lemonade down like…like…" The kangaroo guard said.

"Jell-O?" Belle said, trying to help.

"Yea, that's it. Jell-O." The miner announced, "Thanks."

"Not a problem." The mouse responded.

"Okay," The dingo yelled, "if you think she didn't cheat, then you challenge her."

"I will." The kangaroo said.

"I'd gladly accept your challenge." Sam declared.

"Okay. Bruce, another round."

The drinks were given out as the kangaroo spoke.

"Okay, one round, winner-take-all, understand?"

"Of course, sir." Sam said, "But let's rise the stakes a bit."

"Like?" the guard asked the cat.

"If I win, your gang's going to left the place." The feline informed.

"And, if I win?" The kangaroo asked.

"Then, my gang will leave."

"Okay, let's drink."

The competitors grabbed their drinks as the kangaroo started to count.

"One, two…"

"Wait!" The cat exclaimed.

"What?" The miner asked.

"I'll agree to the drink, only if my friend does the counting." Sam stated, pointing at Belle.

"Fine." The guard said, annoyed.

"Okay," Belle announced nervously, "On the count of three. One. Two. Three!"

The kangaroo drank his beverage quickly, almost faster than the dingo.

"Done!" The miner announced as he slammed his mug onto the table. His cocky smug converted into a dropped jaw when he saw the cat was licking her fingers as an empty mug sat in front of her.

"I see." Sam said coolly through her sly grin.

The kangaroo growled like a dog, and his partner yelled out, "She must have cheated, or else she wouldn't use a friend, mate."

"Why I never…" The mouse said in anger as the miners were gathering together.

"Belle," The feline stated, "this isn't the best time to start yelling at these guys."

The small mouse was about to talk back at her ally/friend when she noticed that the number of guards was increasing in size.

"Oh, I see what you mean." Belle announced softly to Sam.

"So much for yur big talk." The dingo stated.

"Time to teach ya what we do to cheaters, mate or shela." The kangaroo added.

"Let's dance." The feline said, ready for battle.

"I think this isn't my number." Belle said, because she was frightened at the fact that the odds were against them.

The miners sprang into the girls. Sam dodged, kicked, punched, and one time bit anyone that tried to harm her and Belle. Belle, however, managed to dodge hits.

"I wish I had brought my sword with me." The mouse said as she dodged a near- kick to the face.

"Wish granted!" Rad's voice rang through the sounds of the fight.

"Rad!" the two girls said in unison, almost getting hit by a thrown bottle.

"At your service." The raccoon announced suavely as he knocked out a big dingo.

"Sword, now!" Belle yelled out as she evaded a punch from a kangaroo.

"One sword, coming up!" Sam said as she kicked a dingo's chin.

The physically furious feline ran to Rad, dodging attacks. She dodged five to ten punches and two to four kicks.

"Rad!" The cat yelled to her co-worker, "The sword! Quickly!"

The raccoon heard and threw the sword to the cat. The feline ran back to the mouse who had her back against a well.

"Belle! Catch!" Sam yelled as she threw the sword to the trapped green hair.

Belle, hearing her friend's voice, said to the miners, "Hey, is that last season's winner of "Australia's Next Top Model!"

The guards turned to see the model. While the workers looked away from the mouse, Belle grabbed her air-borne weapon by its hilt and prepared to fight a group of miners that would be even more enraged at her.

"Oops, my bad." The mouse announced to the guards.

The miners, who were angered by the trick, attacked Belle who dodged the attack by ducking under one of her attackers.

"Bye!" The mouse said as she ran to Sam.

"Hey, now the party's cooking!" The cat said as she pulled out her whip.

The guards launched at the feline who dodged the assault. The group fell to the floor.

"My turn." Sam announced as the miners collected themselves from the floor.

The group of enraged dingoes and kangaroos Tried to attack the crafty cat, but she brought out her whip and pressed a button on the hilt. Then, the whip's tip was on fire. The workers saw the flame stopped in their tracks.

"I would back if I were you." The feline warned as she swung the flaming weapon over her head.

The dingo, that Sam defeated earlier, charged at flame-playing cat.

"Some never learn to listen to warnings." The cat said to herself as she prepared to fight off the assailant.

"I'll show you a warning!" The furious canine yelled as he ran closer to the feline.

Sam stood her ground for a few seconds until the dingo was within her whip's reach.

"Gotcha." The cat said as she attacked her flaming weapon.

The dingo dodged out of the way of the attack. As he landed, the now cocky miner said, "You maybe quick with a mug, but you're slow with a whip."

"You think so?" A smiling Sam asked.

The guard suddenly smelled something cooking.

"Yum. Whatever's smelling so good better be from in here." The dingo said, licking his lips.

"Mate! That's you!" one of the other miners yelled.

Then, the guard finally reacted to the flame that was burning his tail and backside.

"EEEOOOWWW!!!"

The flaming canine ran to the back of the bar. He took a giant leap and landed his tail and backside into a wine cooler that was filled with ice.

"Ouch," the cat said, "I know that has to hurt."

The miner, no longer on fire, charged at the taunting feline. Sam, however, dodged the assault and used her whip to landed another hit on the infuriated dingo.

"Second verse, same as the first." The cat said as she attacked the guard.

"EEEOOOWWW!!!"

As the miner landed into the wine cooler again, his co-workers attacked the feline, but soon they suffered the same fate as the dingo had.

Rad and Belle just laughed at the number of thugs, who were running and diving into anything that contained water or ice.

"Wow! I've never seen so many guys trying to go the men's at the same time!" Belle giggled as she parried a kangaroo guard.

"Yeah!" the raccoon laughed as he dodged an attack, "I'm sure what they have will last for a few seconds."

The miners still attacked the three thieves until all of them were down for the count. Rad stood next of Sam and Belle as they saw the damage they did fighting the guards.

"Wow!" The mouse exclaimed, "I thought that the damage would be less."

"Really?" The cat asked as she looked for more miners to fight, "It's looks like a normal amount of destruction to me."

"That just makes me wonder about how many fights you've been in, Sam." Rad announced as he started to leave for the door.

"Yeah." Belle agreed, following the raccoon.

"What?" Sam asked as she ran after her friends.

9:00 p.m. Day two setup completed.

At the safe house, Belle was setting up the slide show, while Luna sat at the window, thinking to herself.

"Hey, Luna."

The white wolf looked at her friend, Sam, and asked her, "Whazzup?"

"Nothing much." The feline said, sitting herself next to her friend.

"I heard that you left quite an impression on several miners at the lemonade bar." Luna stated as she pointed at Sam's whip.

"I have Belle to thank for that. She was the one that 'upgraded' it." The feline said, pointing at the busy mouse.

"I guess so." The wolf said, "I just wish I didn't go almost AWOL."

"AWOL?" Sam asked.

"It means that I almost left the gang. I just get crazy sometimes." Luna said, feeling upset.

"Why?"

"My mom has been controlling my life, so when someone else tries that on me, I just lose control of my senses."

"Ouch!" Sam exclaimed calmly, "That explains a lot."

"Yeah, but I'm also kinda lucky."

"Why?"

"My dad."

"I wish I had a mother again." The cat said.

"Why?" Luna asked, "All they do is boss you around."

"That's because they care."

"I'll bet that's not true." Luna stated coldly.

Sam was shocked at her friend's comment and would have said something if Belle had not said anything.

"Okay, everyone!" Belle announced, "Time for the show!"

The two friends walked to the table, while the others came one-by-one.

"Hey!" Justin yelled out, "Where's the popcorn?"

"Ha ha." The mouse said to response to the joke.

"Come on! Let's get this show going!" Mar yelled as he sat next to the Guru.

"Just give her a minute!" Rad yelled at the rat.

In a few moments, Belle asked Sam to turn off the lights. The cat got up and flipped the switch.

"Okay," Belle said as the projector was turned on, "We have a big day tomorrow."

The picture was of the valley.

"It's time for Operation Repeat the Blunder!"

"Excuse me, but why is it called 'Operation: Repeat the Blunder?'" Mar asked, confused about the name.

"I'm about to explain it." Belle answered.

"As we know, the last Cooper Gang came here and planned to destroy the Mask of Dark Earth."

"Yeah," Rad said out loud, "Poor Murry. After all that effort, only the guard was attacked."

"And it chose your mom." Justin added, knowing the story as well as Rad did.

"But this time, we have to 'scare' the Dark Mask into running to Mz. Sapphire." Belle announced.

The picture was now of the reptile that they have to stop as well as the mining operation.

"So, I've constructed a dummy which resembles Just's dad." Belle said as she changed the slide, which the picture was of a pink hippo.

"Good old Dad!" The husky yelled out with a short, hearty laugh.

Belle continued to talk, despite the interruptions of her co-workers.

"Okay, by using the dummy, we will be able to stop the guard that wear the Mask, and we'll get Mz. Sapphire to wear it. Then, we start the next phase, which is when I start using my darts at the business witch, causing her to become bigger. Then, her fury fueled by the Mask and us, she'll chase us to a bigger location, so we can throw the TNT barrels at her."

"Question?" Sam asked with her hand in the air, "Why do we need her and the Mask that big?"

"I'm getting there!" The green haired mouse hissed at the curious cat.

"Sorry." The frightened feline said, trying not to enrage her friend even more.

Belle resumed the plan.

"Once the two are at the right size, Rad will climb up the alligator to hang on the rings on the side of the Mask. Then, Sapphire will try to swat him away, and she'll also pull out one of the rings."

"So, when Sapphire knock off the rings, the Mask will leave her face. Sapphire will shrink back to normal size, but how do we get rid of the Mask?" Rad asked.

"That's taken care of." Belle answered, "Your parents have been informed about our whereabouts. At tomorrow night, they'll be here ready to arrest someone."

"Three guesses who." Luna joked.

Sam laughed, knowing what Luna meant.

"Okay, so that's it: we start tomorrow." Rad announced with a serious tone in his voice.

"Evening." Belle added.

"So, that means that everyone must get some rest." Justin spoke as he got up from his seat.

The members of the gang went upstairs, while Sam helped her mouse friend with the projector.

"Hey, Sam."

The feline turned her head to Belle and asked, "What is it, friend?"

The mouse said as she placed the slides into a box marked 'Slides,' I've been wondering about something."

"What is it, then?" The cat asked with a grin on her face.

"Do you have any feelings towards Rad?"

That question froze Sam in her steps.

"What makes you ask a question like that, Belle?" The feline asked the mouse, shaken by the inquiry.

"I've noticed something between you two since the first time our groups met." Belle said, "But you're evading my questions now."

The cat sighed deeply.

"_One to never beat around the bush, that Belle." _

Sam breathed in again, this time, deeper and said, "You know what?"

"What?"

"To be honest, I really don't know."

The answer shocked Belle.

"_She doesn't know her own feelings towards Rad?! I guess I pry a bit more."_

"So, what about Mar or Luna?" Belle continued her interrogation.

"I think of them as friends."

"Is that it?"

The cat nodded to the mouse.

"And Justin and I?"

"You guys are also my friends." Sam said as she dusted herself.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Belle said with a smile on her face.

"I'm glad to have friends like the Cooper X Gang." The cheerful cat said with an awkward, but honest grin on her face.

"That's the truth." The mouse agreed with her friend.

"I do have a question."

"What is it?"

"How did you three meet at kindergarten when all three of you were different ages?" Sam asked.

Belle blushed at the mention of her first meeting of Rad and Justin.

"Well, I was four when I was enrolled by my dad." The mouse explained, "Justin was enrolled a year earlier, but was held back."

"He wasn't that smart?" The cat asked, curious about how the husky was held back.

"No, his mother was worried about him being challenged too much."

"Ouch!" Sam exclaimed.

"Don't worry, I'm really grateful to her to this day." Belle said.

"How?"

The mouse took a deep breath, preparing to tell the story, and said, "Well, it was a sunny day. I was playing with the RC car, my mom made me for my birthday. As I played with my toy, a big bully came to me and demanded that I surrender my car."

The cat said, "What happened next?"

Belle giggled a bit before she resumed telling her tale.

"He took my car, and I demanded it back, but he just laughed at me before he kicked me. Then, out of nowhere, these two boys confronted the bully."

"Rad and Justin." The cat said.

"Yep." The mouse confirmed, "Rad swapped the car, while Justin fought the bully, who was Justin's older by a year."

"Did the guys get in trouble?" The feline asked, still curious.

"Did you ever fight in school?" Belle asked her friend.

Sam thought for a moment before answering the question.

"Yep, and I got into trouble."

"The same thing happened in Pairs; Rad was grounded, Justin was forced to stay at his grandparents home for the weekend for a month, but I got my car, and I made some lifelong friends." The green head said with a happy grin on her face.

"That's a good thing to have, besides a family." The cat said while holing her long furry tail.

"Yeah."

Sam gave a big yawn its introduction and said, "I think it's about time we went to bed too."

Belle giggled as she agreed with her cat co-worker.

"Yeah."

"Night, Belle."

The two friends went upstairs and went to their rooms to sleep. Belle had only a thought about the operation.

"_Tomorrow is going to be a dozy."_

Next Chapter: Operation: Repeat the Blunder


	7. Operation: Repeat the Blunder

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

Chapter 6: Operation: Repeat the Blunder

Australia, 10:00 a.m.

Sam was looking out at the Outback when Rad entered the room.

"Hi."

Sam returned to reality as she turned to the young raccoon.

"Hi, Rad. What brings you up here?"

Rad walked to the cat and joined her at the window still.

"Nothing. Just to look. What brings you here yourself?"

"Same reason." The feline replied.

A few moments of silence between the two young teammates. Rad broke the silence by asking, "Do you remember your parents?"

"A little." Sam answered.

"What did they look like?"

It took Sam some time until she answered.

"I remember that my father was a cat, like me."

"And your mother?"

"She was bigger than me."

"Aren't most mothers bigger than any eight-year-ago?"

Sam giggled.

"She was also bigger than my daddy."

"That might explain a bit." Rad said to himself out loud.

"What do you mean?" The cat asked the raccoon.

"Nothing, I was thinking out loud."

"Oh!"

The two were quiet for a few more seconds when Sam asked a question.

"Why did you become a thief?"

Rad kept quiet for a few minutes without answering.

Sam started to pester Rad.

"Well?"

"I rather not talk about it."

"All right." Sam said, shrugging her shoulders.

The cat started walking out of the room when Rad said, "Wait."

"Why?" The cat asked coyly.

"I need to talk to someone about that."

"Really?" The confused cat asked.

"Yeah, just close the door." The raccoon said, his head low.

Sam closed the door and walked towards Rad.

"What's wrong, Rad?"

Rad took a deep breath and started to tell his story.

"It started a few months ago. It was a normal day when a letter came to my parents."

The raccoon pulled out a white envelope and gave it to the cat.

"This is the note."

Sam grabbed the piece of paper.

"What is it?" The cat asked, worried.

"It's the letter." Rad said.

Sam opened the envelope and pulled out the folded letter.

Rad urged her to read it by unfolding the paper.

"I may need help." The cat said to the raccoon.

"I'm sorry." The raccoon said, realizing that Sam probably cannot read very well, "Just read as much as you can, and I'll help you out."

"Thanks." Sam said as she looked at the letter.

_To the Cooper coppers,_

_I have a reason to sending you a letter. I have formed a powerful criminal organization, and there will be no possible way that you can defeat us. We are formal members of the CLAW Gang and children of the Fiendish Five. We will defeat you and restore the honor that was stripped from us so long ago. We will make you suffer the way we have. If you try to stop us, do not say that we did not warned you, and we will make an example out of you for all those who wish to oppose us._

_From the leader of the Fiendish Claws._

"Did your parents read this?" The cat asked after reading the letter.

"Thankfully, no." Rad replied, "I normally come home earlier in the day than my parents do. One could imitate my reaction to the letter, but an imitation could ever match my horror of it."

"Am I the first one you told this to?" Sam asked her fellow thief.

The Cooper child nodded his head in silence.

"Wow, this is serious." The feline said in fright, "Why didn't you tell your parents?"

"I'm worried about my parents because they would be so busy protecting me that they could be killed, trying to save me." Rad replied sadly.

Sam looked at the heir of the Cooper thief clan, seeing his sadness.

"If this letter never came…"

"I would be worrying about college." Rad said.

The cat felt hurt by the words she just heard.

"But, I'm glad that I took this path." Rad spoke as he placed his hand on Sam's shoulder.

The feline looked up at the raccoon, only to be surprised by a kiss. It lasted for a few moments until Rad pulled back from Sam.

"Like it?" The thief asked his 'victim.'

The cat was shocked from the kiss and said, "Yeah."

"Excuse me?"

The two thieves looked at the door and saw Belle. She did not look too happy.

"Nothing too serious happened between us." Rad tried to defend himself and Sam.

"Don't worry." The mouse said, hurt dripping out of her voice. Then, she ran down the hall.

"Belle, wait!" The worried cat called out to Belle.

The mouse never heard Sam's cry. She ran until she tripped a piece of rope and almost fell down the stairs. Rad and Sam witnessed the accident.

"Belle!" The two co-workers yelled as they rushed the green haired mouse.

The mouse screamed until she felt something strange of a fall.

"What the-?"

Belle realized that she was rescued by Mar, who was halfway up the stairs when the mouse fell on him.

"Well…" Belle started, still sitting in the brown rat's arms, blushing.

"This is awkward." Mar finished, also blushing.

Back at upstairs, Rad and Sam watched the two blushed at each other.

"Looks like that love just sprouted." Rad said with a goofy grin on his face.

"Looks like it." Sam agreed with a smile.

"Come on, kiss!" Justin yelled at the two possible lovers.

"SHUT UP, JUSTIN!" The embarrassed yelled.

Rad and Sam laughed while Mar and Belle started to chased Justin all over the hideout.

8:00 p.m. Operation begins.

Mar was at the Guru's campsite, waiting for the operation to begin. It was signaled by a call from Belle.

"Mar, it's time."

"Belle, what's the job?"

"You're the lookout at the Guru's place. Rad will look out for at the other side of the valley." Belle said via commutacater.

"I need to an eye out for Mz. Sapphire?" The rat asked.

"Yeah; I'm going to check up with the others. You do your job."

"Okay."

Rad waited for the signal when Belle called him.

"Rad, how's things at your end?"

The raccoon answered, "It's all quiet here; I'll call when anything comes up."

"Okay."

Belle was at the very place her father shot Inspector Fox with tranquilizer darts, not knowing to him that it would cause her to become bigger, or his daughter would be repeating his mistake on purpose.

"Bet Dad never knew that his goof-up would be useful today." The mouse said to herself, remembering the stories he told her.

"Belle! Mz. Sapphire is on your way!" Mar yelled.

"Mask, coming to you, Belle!" Rad shouted.

The mouse started to panic. She did not know what do for a minute.

"Oh, yeah!"

She ran to the tower where the dummy was suspended and got the type recorder.

"Good thing Dad has a tendency to record events on type recorder." Belle said to herself as she pressed the play button.

Murry's voice came out as clear as crystal as it spoke the owner's words came out.

"_Behold! The Moon Spirit rises!"_

The green haired mouse cocked her crossbow, preparing to shoot the rope that held the dummy. What she had to was wait…

"Belle," Rad announced loudly, "Mask in position!"

"Okay!" She said, aiming at the rope, "Bombs away!"

Belle fires the arrow, which severed the rope, causing the dummy to drop on the guard wearing the Mask of Dark Earth.

The decoy landed on its mark, causing the Mask to find a new host.

"Yes!" The mouse said as she watched the Mask find Mz. Sapphire as it's new host.

Mar in mediation saw a vision of Mz. Sapphire being possessed by the Mask of Dark Earth.

"Now, we can destroy the Cooper X Gang." The alligator announced as she grew larger with power.

Mar's eyes opened in shock of the vision. He called Belle.

"Belle, we have some bad news!"

"The plan's going perfectly! What could be wrong?" The mouse responded.

"Mz. Sapphire knew that we were going to do something like this. That's what's wrong."

Belle was silent for a few moments, and then she said, "Continue with the plan."

"What!?"

"Continue with the plan. The job's not over yet."

The rat hesitated for a moment and said, "See ya in the truck."

"See ya."

Belle cocked her crossbow and armed it with tranquilizer dart and took aim at the alligator.

"Dart one."

The mouse fired, and the dart found its mark: Mz. Sapphire.

"Yes, a direct hit."

Although Belle was happy at herself as a 'markswoman,' Mz. Sapphire was not so happy, and to show her displeasure, she used her magic to attack whomever attacked her.

"Uh-o."

As the blast of magic came towards her, a bolt of eletricity assaulted the blast, destroying it. The mouse was relieved that she would see tomorrow.

"You better be careful; I don't want to explain to your dad how you became a toad or worse." Rad said via earpiece.

"Thanks, Rad."

"I'll help too." Sam announced to the mouse.

"How?"

Just then, a firework came up from the truck and flew towards Mz. Sapphire. It never hit the giant alligator, but it did grab her attention.

"I know how." Belle declared as she armed her crossbow with another dart.

The mouse shot four more times with Sam's distractions and Rad's protection before Mz. Sapphire grew larger.

"Time to go." Rad said as he ran to Belle.

"It's time to high-tail it." The mouse said as she ran towards the truck.

The raccoon caught up with Belle and carried her to the truck.

"You fools!" Mz. Sapphire boomed out, "I'll destroy you!"

"Boy, and she's not kidding!" Luna said, still in the truck.

Next to her was Justin, who agreed with her.

"Yeah."

The Guru, who was also in the giant truck, nodded in agreement.

"Justin!" Rad yelled as he entered the truck with Belle, "Start the engines!"

The husky did not need to be told twice, and he started the engine and drove off.

"Sam?" Luna asked loudly after opening the back window.

"Yea?" The feline answered, just as loud as the wolf.

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Then, Belle started shouting at Sam.

"Remember, use the claw and the TNT!"

"Right!"

The cat, who sat in the claw's control panel, was ready to throw the barrels at the oversized alligator.

"Here comes round one!"

The claw grabbed a random barrel and threw it at the magically charged reptile. The bomb-like barrel hit it's mark, causing Mz. Sapphire to slow down a little.

"Little brats!" The alligator roared.

"Hope you like that!" Sam taunted the larger creature with a grin on her face.

The cat used the machine to throw more barrels of TNT at the reptile until the mask-wearer grew bigger.

"Okay, she's bigger!" Sam announced to her fellow thieves.

"All right!" Belle cheered.

Rad yelled at Justin, who seemed to be having fun.

"Time to stop!"

Justin slammed on the brakes, but he hit the E-brake, causing the truck to flip over and crash.

"Sound off if you're alive." Rad declared in the truck.

Groans from five different people came as a result.

"Okay. Let's check outside."

The seven people climbed out of the wreck that was the truck and saw that Mz. Sapphire was a few stories high.

"Whoa! She's too huge to outrun!" Exclaimed a shocked Justin.

"We're not going to outrun her." Belle said to the frightened husky, "We're going to climb her."

"WHAT!" Luna screamed at the top of her lungs.

"It's the only way!" The mouse protested.

"Besides, Sam and I are going up." Rad announced.

"Here." Mar said, holding two necklaces in his hand.

Sam grabbed a necklace and examined it.

"Crystallized tar?" The raccoon asked the rat.

"Dark earth?" The cat asked.

"That's right." Mar confirmed, "Tar is a great repellent of the Mask's power."

"Good." Rad said, tying the amulet around his neck.

"Guys, be careful." Belle asked as Sam placed the amulet around her neck.

"And, come back alive!" Luna nearly screamed at the duo.

"Don't worry." Rad said with the Cooper grin on his face, "We'll be back."

"Yeah, so stop mothering us!" Sam said.

"Why you…" The wolf started to say as Rad and Sam ran off to defeat Mz. Sapphire.

The run was short due to the size of Mz. Sapphire and her swinging tail.

"Here goes nothin'!" Sam said as she jumped onto the tail.

"Right behind ya!" Rad yelled as he followed the feline onto the tail.

Both thieves landed on the alligator. A dark aura surrounded the duo, but it did not consume them.

"What's going on?" Sam asked, relieved that the aura did not take them.

"Belle?" Rad asked via earpiece.

The mouse's was hard to hear due to the dark aura.

"It's the tar necklaces; they're protecting you from the aura of the Mask of Dark Earth and Mz. Sapphire."

"That's good news." The raccoon said with the cat nodded in agreement.

"We have to be careful though, who knows what might happen." Sam announced.

"Right; let's go." Rad declared, and the two started to climb to the giant.

Meanwhile, Sly and Carmelita Cooper were in pursuit of the Cooper X Gang when they saw the giant form of Mz. Sapphire.

"What's going on?" The vixen asked her husband.

"I don't know." The raccoon hubby said, "I'm going to find out." And grabbed the binoculars and looked through them.

"What the-?!"

"What is it, Sly?" Carmelita asked, surprised at the exclamation of her husband.

"Look at this!" Sly said, giving his wife the binoculars.

The fox grabbed the binoculars, looked through them, and saw what her husband saw.

"What?"

She saw the giant grew bigger to the size that the fox herself once had been.

"She grew!"

"What?!" The raccoon said, grabbing another pair of binoculars, and looking through them.

"You're right!" Sly confirmed, "She did grow! Let's get the gorillas there; we can catch up with them later."

"How about we go with them?" Carmelita suggested.

"It was just a joke." The raccoon said, trying to defend himself.

"Let's go!" The fox commanded. Sly complied and ran to the mercenaries.

Sam and Rad were on the alligator's shoulders when Belle called via earpiece.

"Look out! Troopers!"

"Troopers?" Sam asked Rad.

"My mom's mercenaries." The raccoon said.

"Let's stop the gator before the mercenaries stop us." Belle yelled at them.

"Right!" The cat said, and the two jumped to the Mask's rings.

As soon as Rad jumped, he heard Mz. Sapphire's voice.

"You might defeat me, but the other members of the Fiendish Claws will not be so simple to defeat."

The thief was so distracted by the telepathic message that he almost did not grab the ring with his family cane.

"Be careful!" Sam said; she was unaware that Rad had a mental message.

"Don't worry about me! Just stay still!" The raccoon yelled back.

The alligator's magic attacked the two thieves, whom managed to dodge the attack, and the rings. The rings were destroyed, causing the Mask of Dark Earth to leave Mz. Sapphire. The ex-wearer of the Mask shrink down to her normal size while the Mask tried to find a new host.

"It's getting away!" Luna yelled.

"No, it's not." Belle said, coolly, "Look!"

In the sky, four ape mercenaries came out of nowhere on jetpacks.

"That's good!" Justin said with a smile on his face.

"Well, that's not!" Luna said, pointing at the two new arrivals.

"My parents!" A shocked Rad shouted. Mar and Sam slapped their hands onto the raccoon's mouth to silence him.

"What are you trying to do? Get us arrested?" Mar asked rhetorically.

"Besides, if they catch us, we can't stop you-know-whom." Sam whispered low enough so that Rad could hear.

After a moment, Rad said, "You're right."

"Good." The feline said, and then to the others, announced the next part of the plan.

"Time to go!"

The others heard the cat. All but one followed Sam.

"Guru!" Mar exclaimed at his mentor. The old mystic responded in his language.

"I can't leave you!" The rat protested.

Luna came and picked him up.

"We can't stop him. It's his choice!"

"But…"

"There's no changing his mind, except his own will."

And without another word, the white wolf carried Mar to the truck.

Meanwhile, the apes have finished destroying the Mask of Dark Earth, and Coopers were examining Mz. Sapphire, who was drugged.

"Wow, it's like twenty years ago." Sly commented.

"Really?" His wife asked.

"Are you serious?" A shock raccoon asked.

"What do you mean?" The vixen asked.

"Inspector, Constable, look!" An ape announced.

The Coopers looked and saw the Guru.

"_What's the Guru doing here?" _Sly thought as he and his wife walked to the old mystic.

The Guru spoke to them in his language, which the cops understood.

"Really?" Carmelita asked, "Do you have any proof?"

The Guru pulled out a piece of paper, which Sly took and read.

"Looks real." The raccoon cop said.

"And is real." The fox added.

"Okay, so we can arrest Mz. Sapphire for trespassing and illegal digging." Sly admitted.

"That's good to hear; Sapphire's been causing trouble around here." Carmelita said, pulling out her handcuffs.

"Apes!" The raccoon yelled.

"Yes, sir!"

"Go out and find any miners and arrest them!"

"Yes, sir!" And without another word, they ran off to carry out their mission.

At the turnover truck, the group saw Mz. Sapphire get arrested and the miners carried out to a waiting police truck.

"Well, all's well that ends well." Mar said, at true peace since before the vision came to him.

"You can say that again." Rad agreed, placing his hands between his head and the truck.

"Oh, boy." Belle said as she looked at the law enforcers doing their job.

"So, we're staying here?" Luna asked rudely.

"Until the cops are gone." Sam answered just as rudely to the wolf.

Then, Sly Cooper started to walk over to the tipped-over truck.

"You were saying?" The white wolf asked sarcastically.

"Oops?"

"Time to go!" Belle said as the elder raccoon came closer.

Justin was happy to hear those words.

"ALL RIGHT!"

The husky started up the engine and hit the E-brake, causing the truck to flip back onto it's wheels, and drove away.

"What the?" Sly yelled as he dusted himself after being nearly ran over by the truck.

"Sly!" His wife shouted, "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay. It's not everyday that you almost got by a up-side down truck." The raccoon answered with a relived smile.

Carmelita breathed a sigh of relief herself, but she became curious.

"Could that have been…?"

"I don't know." Sly answered, "But if there's one thing I know about Conrad Cooper: That's he true to his word."

"Yeah, you're right." The vixen agreed, pulling out the note she found a month earlier in Little China Town.

"I know, Carm." Sly said, seeing the letter.

The fox looked at her husband as he finished his sentence.

"I miss him too."

Carmelita looked at the note, then back at Sly.

"Think he'll be back soon."

"Time will tell, that's all I know." The raccoon answered before looking at his wife's sad face.

"I don't know if he's okay or he's hurt, or…"

She stopped her verbal worries when Sly embraced her.

"I'm just as worried, but I know that he knows what he's doing." The raccoon said as he hugged his wife.

Carmelita sobbed into her husband's shirt as the moon shined on them.

In the now-mobile truck, the Cooper X Gang was relaxing, knowing that they were killed or arrested.

"This is great!" Luna said, putting her hands behind her head, "We're still free!"

"And, alive!" Belle added as she wiped her brow.

Justin was excited about driving the biggest truck he's ever driven.

"Wow!"

Mar rolled his eyes at the husky's excitement.

"Mar, chill." Sam said to the rat, "He's just excited."

The brown rat thought for a moment before speaking his mind.

"I know. It's just I felt something while you and Rad were on Mz. Sapphire."

"What do you mean?" The feline asked, unaware that Rad also heard what Mar said.

"I felt a telepathic link for a few seconds." The rat answered with real concern in his voice.

"Really?" Rad asked next.

"Yeah, it's part of the job of the mystic."

"I think we should tell them." Sam said to Rad.

"What?" Mar asked.

"Are you pregnant?" Luna and Belle asked in unison.

"NO!" The feline nearly screamed.

"Don't worry; we didn't do 'that.' Rad reinsured the other females.

"Right." The wolf said, unsure of Rad's honestly about Sam.

"I'll tell you, when we get to the van." The raccoon said, trying to avoid the feline's death glare.

As soon the gang reached the van via giant truck, Rad told the others what he told Sam earlier, and when he was finished, his friends, Justin and Belle, were very shocked.

"You mean that you were so willing to become a thief and inherent the Cooper heirlooms is to stop this Fiendish Claws Gang?" Belle asked her friend with a determined curiosity in her eyes.

The raccoon nodded his head as an answer.

Belle, seeing the answer, asked another question.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Rad lowered his head, guessing at what the small mouse would say next.

"We would've helped."

The young Cooper was expecting to yelled at, cursed, attacked, and/or harmed, but what she said really flew him for a loop.

"You would?"

"Duh." Belle said.

"Your dad was like a brother to our dads, so I think it would make us like cousins or close to that." Justin added.

"Besides that," Belle continued to speak, "Dad always told me that how the last Cooper Gang reminded so powerful was trust they had in each other."

"Trust?" Mar asked the green head mouse.

"Yeah, without that, the Cooper Gang would have died out."

"Really." Luna said, "If my dad didn't trust Sly to help him escape from jail, he would have been sent to prison."

"That makes a great example." Belle said.

"Uh, Belle?" Sam asked her friend.

"Yes?" The mouse asked back.

"Don't we have a plane to catch?"

A moment came and went before Belle yelled out, "You're right! We got to be at the airport and fast!"

The group got into the van and drove all the to the airport. When they got there…

"What?!" Belle exclaimed as she saw that the plane has left.

"Calm down." Rad said in a cool voice, "It's not the end of the world because we missed a plane."

"Why?" Asked an angry mouse.

On a beach in Sidney, Belle said, while laying on a beach towel, wearing a purple swimsuit, "This is why."

The whole gang was enjoying themselves. The boys were surfing, and the girls were laying in the sun.

"Ya know what?" Luna asked her friends.

"What?"

"This kinda life isn't as bad as my mother said."

"Perhaps." Sam said, unsure.

"Hey!" Belle said, "Let's get some shrimp."

"Good idea, I'm starved." Sam said.

"Me too." The wolf said.

As the girls went to get the food, Belle thought, _"Boy, that was close."_

The boys were near the towels by the time the girls come back.

"Come to go." Rad said.

"Why?" Luna asked.

"My parents are here."

"Let's go!" Sam said after looking behind her back.

The group looked and saw the two Coopers, whom were asking people about someone. The five followed Sam, not wanting to know of who they were looking for, even though they had a good idea who.

The Cooper X Gang finally caught a plane and returned to Little China Town, refreshed and ready for almost anything.

Next Chapter: Rumble in the Jungle


	8. Rumble in the Jungle

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter 7: Rumble in the Jungle

In Little China Town, one month after the Australian adventure.

"Hey!" Justin yelled at Mar, "Give that back!"

"Make me, Just!" The rat said, holding up an object that was concealed by a white napkin, not looking where he was going.

Mar was about to escape, when he tripped over something, causing the object to fly out of his hand.

"NOOO!" Justin yelled as he saw the object fall onto the floor.

Then, a gloved hand caught the object.

"Thank you, Belle!" The husky exclaimed joyfully as he saw the object was safe.

The mouse grinned as Justin ran up to her, thanking her.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"No problem." Belle said as revealed the object. It was a box of cupcakes.

"Thank you again." The husky said as he grabbed the box, but the mouse would not let go.

"Hey, let go, Belle."

"Nope." The mouse responded, still holding onto the box of sweets.

"Come on!" Justin wined.

"What's going on?" Rad said angrily.

"It's over some cupcakes." Mar said, getting up from his fall.

"Justin, did your mom send you cupcakes?" The raccoon said.

"Yeah, through Dad." The husky admitted.

"Okay." Rad said calmly.

"What?" Mar asked a little shocked.

"Yeah, Justin's mom makes the best cupcakes." Belle announced.

Rad and Justin licked their lips at the thought of the taste of the sweets.

"What 's so great about some cupcakes?" The rat asked.

The three others started to glare at Mar, who felt the fury in the room. Sam and Luna entered the room and immediately felt the bad energies in the room.

"What's wrong?" The cat asked nervously from the bad aura.

The wolf sniffed the air and smelled the cupcakes.

"Cupcakes?"

"Cupcakes?" Sam repeated.

"I haven't had a cupcake since I was a kid." Luna said, her mouth watering.

"Me either." The feline agreed.

"Glad to hear that." Justin said; his fury converted into happiness.

"Have some?" Rad asked Sam, holding an opened box.

"Hey!" Belle exclaimed, realizing that Rad swiped the box.

"Sure." The cat answered, taking a cupcake.

Sam reached for a cupcake and grabbed it when she noticed something.

"What?"

"What's wrong?" The raccoon asked.

"There's a piece of paper under the cupcakes!" The cat said.

"A piece of paper?!" The mouse exclaimed in shock.

Luna, who had also grabbed a cupcake, confirmed Sam's announcement.

"She's right."

"It's possible that it's the bottom of the box." Mar said indifferently.

"Well, there's one thing to do." Rad announced with his shoulders shrugged.

"What?" The others asked, looking at the leader.

"Eat cake."

Sam, Belle, and Luna looked at each other and then, back at Rad.

"Thinking what I'm thinking?" The cat asked her fellow females.

"Yep." The others girls answered.

Sam walked to the raccoon, who happened to have become very nervous.

"What is it?" Rad asked with nervousness in his voice.

"Let's have cake." Sam announced. Then, she slipped behind the raccoon and grabbed him.

"What?!" Yelled a surprised raccoon.

"Let 'im have it!" The cat yelled.

Belle and Luna each grabbed a cupcake and smashed it onto Rad's face. Then, Sam slammed her cupcake into her captive's face.

"I deserved that." Rad said, licking the food from his face.

The girls laughed, while Mar and Justin tried to hold back their laughter. The raccoon, however, laughed with the girls.

"Next time, I have to be careful what I joke about." Rad said to his 'attackers.'

"Yeah." The girls laughed.

"Let's see what the note has to say." Mar suggested, hoping to be calm by that time.

"All right." Sam said, "Let's read it."

Belle grabbed the note.

"Hey, this note's from my father!"

"Your Dad?" The cat exclaimed.

"Yeah." The mouse confirmed.

"Read it!" The husky demanded.

"No need to yell, Just." Rad said while rubbing his ears.

"Sorry." Justin said quietly.

Belle shook and wiped off the cupcake crumbs and started to read the note.

_Cooper X Gang,_

_There's trouble brewing in India. Rajan, an old foe, is hosting a racing tournament this month. It's no doubt about why he's hosing a race, ask Murry. I'll provide transportation for you guys and __your__ team van._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Bentley and Penelope_

"That was short." Luna commented.

"Rajan…" Justin said.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked the husky.

"Don't worry!" A voice boomed into the room.

The gang looked at the doorway and saw a pink hippo.

"Dad!" Justin exclaimed.

"Hiya, Just!" The hippo said.

"Murry." Rad said.

"So, I'm guessing that you're here because you want to race?" Belle said.

"Yep. I just hope that Inspector Fox hasn't followed me"

"Huh?" Sam, Mar, and Luna asked.

"Fox was my mom's maiden name." Rad explained.

"Okay." The three said.

"So, what's up, Pop?" Justin asked.

"I'm starting to think that Justin got his smarts from his mother." Mar whispered to Sam, who giggled at the statement.

"Now for the important question." Justin's father said.

"What is it?" Rad asked.

"Got anything to eat?" The hippo answered.

After Murry ate, he told the gang that the airplane for India would leave the next week.

"You heard the guy." Rad announced, "Let's get packing."

"Right!" The others said.

The six young thieves ran off, leaving Murry by himself.

* * *

A week later…

"We're ready?" Rad asked Sam.

"Yep."

"That's good. Murry's been eating us out of house and home." Mar said, walking by the two.

"Okay, loan the van." The raccoon said.

"Done." Belle said, walking pass Rad.

"Okay, then check the van."

"Started and finished." Justin said from upstairs.

"Weapons?"

"Tuned and polished." Luna yelled from down the hall.

"Food?"

"Taken care of." Sam whispered to Rad.

"Why are you whispering?" Rad asked just as softly.

"Food?" Murry asked, poking his head out of a room.

"If that …" Sam started to say when Rad said, "Answers my question."

The cat giggled.

"I'm starting to think that I'm not wanted here." The raccoon said jokily.

"Same here."

Rad turned to Sam to find that, though he was joking, she was serious.

"Is it wanted or feeling needed?"

"Both."

"Let me guess…" Rad said with a grin.

"Don't." The cat demanded, wiping the grin off of the raccoon's face.

"Do you even what to talk about it?"

"Not now."

"We're ready!" Justin yelled before Rad asked another question.

Sam gave the Cooper heir a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for trying."

With that, she left Rad alone in the hall.

"_Man, it's times like this that makes me understand my own mother better." _Rad thought as he placed his hand on to the part of his face that the cat kissed.

"Hey!" Belle's voice yelled, bringing him back to reality.

"What is it?" The raccoon asked, somewhat annoyed.

"We need to leave very soon."

"Okay."

"Rad, what's wrong?" The mouse said, sounded determined.

"It's what I got from my mom."

"And that would be?"

"How I can blush so easily by a thief."

"What?!" Belle exclaimed loudly.

"It's nothing." Rad said, "Only one thief can get away with that, and she on our team."

"See ya in the van." The mouse said.

"See ya." The raccoon replied as he walked to the garage.

Belle thought, _"What does Rad see in Sam? Good looks? Smarts? No way on Smarts! I got that hands down! Why does he think of me as one of the boys!?"_

* * *

In the van, the gang, plus Murry, was ready to depart.

"Ready?" Rad asked.

"Ready!" The raccoon's five co-workers responded.

"Let's go!" Murry yelled.

The seven of them loaded up and drove to the airport.

* * *

After going though everything in the airport, the seven boarded the airplane.

"I never liked heights." The hippo wearing a business suit and a bad toupee said.

"Calm down, Dad." A husky wearing gothic clothing and makeup said to the hippo.

"Stop bickering!" A mouse in a school uniform demanded.

"Speak a little louder; I don't think Rajan could hear you!" A wolf in gangsta clothing nearly yelled at the mouse.

"Calm down, guys!" A hippie rat said.

A raccoon and cat couple looked at the fighting group.

"Did Belle and Justin act like this on your way to Little China Town?" The modestly dressed cat asked her well-dressed 'beau' as she continued to watch the argument.

"Only when Murry's around." The raccoon answered.

"Why?" inquired Sam.

"For Justin, it's like trying a break from being the grown-up of the group." Rad responded.

"So, Just's makes sure you and Belle stay out of trouble." The cat asked.

"Yep."

The feline giggled as she turned around in her seat.

"I heard that the three of you have been together for a while." Sam said.

"Yep, since kindergarten." Rad said with a smile, "I was there with you."

"Sorry." The cat said, embarrassed.

"Let's get some rest before we land." The leader suggested.

"I don't know." The feline said.

"Why?"

"By the looks when we came aboard, I'm guessing we're in for a long trip."

Rad remembered that the others were fighting.

"Ya know, I think you're right."

Sam dug into her purse.

"What are you looking for?" The raccoon asked the cat.

"Earplugs."

"Good idea."

The feline pulled out two pairs of earplugs, gave a pair to Rad, and plugged her ears.

"Now for a quiet trip." Sam said.

"Whatever that means." Rad said before plugging his ears.

* * *

Once they reached India, the group had calm down to the point that some of them fell asleep.

"Hey, wake up!" Justin said to a sleeping Rad.

The raccoon groaned as he stirred from slumber.

"What is it?"

"It's time to get off." The husky answered.

"What?" Rad asked. Then, he pulled off the earplugs from his ears and asked, "Now, what was it you were saying?"

"The plane's landed."

"Good." The raccoon said, "Let's go."

"Just as soon as some of the others are awake." Justin said.

"Okay."

"Rad…" An annoyed Sam announced, "We have to help too."

"Hey! I just woke up." The raccoon protested, but the cat ignored it.

"So have I! Now, come on!"

Sam grabbed Rad's ear and pulled it to her.

"OW!!!"

"Are you going to help?" The cat asked her captive.

"All right! All right! I'll do it!" Cried the raccoon, "Just let go!"

Sam released the ear and got out of her seat.

"Ow!" Rad exclaimed, "Now why did she do that?"

"Maybe that's a sample of how rough life on the streets can be." Justin guessed.

The raccoon almost spoke out, but the gave some thought about Sam's lifestyle prior to meeting Mar and Luna.

"I guess so."

And with that, he started helping waking up his sleeping friends.

* * *

After going through the airport, member by member, the group drove off into the jungle where the race was held.

"I wonder want the race is going to be like." Murry said while taking the front seat next to his son.

"I'm not to keen about races, but I do have that nasty feeling that the race is a trap." Sam announced from the back.

"Ya know, Sam, you might be right." Justin said while driving.

"Why?" The cat inquired the driver.

"Because my dad pounded the daylights outta Rajan."

"Hey!" The hippo said, "No one, I repeat, no one calls me 'weak' and gets away with it!"

"Oh, boy." Belle complained.

"Here we go again." Rad announced, much to his annoyance.

"Why do I have a feeling that this is going to be a long trip?" Luna asked.

"And why do I agree with you?" Mar asked Luna.

"Earplugs?" The feline asked her friends, holding a pair in her hands.

"One pair here!" Belle said.

"I'll take a pair." Rad announced.

"Silence is needed." Luna said dramatically.

"Oh, yeah." Mar agreed.

Each of the backseat riders grabbed a pair and plugged their ears.

"Hey, Rad." Sam said, just before the raccoon plugged his ears.

"Yes, Sam?"

"If you … Never mind!"

And with that, the cat plugged up her ears, leaving Rad rather puzzled.

_"Why would Sam try to asked me unless…"_

"Hey, Rad." Justin called.

Rad knew what Justin was going to ask.

"Don't worry, I'll bear it with you."

"Thanks, bud." The husky said gratefully.

Meanwhile, a vulture flew over the van; it had a camera attached to it, sending footage of the Cooper X Gang to a secret room of four people.

"So, they're coming." The voice of Rajan said.

"That's news." Another male voice spoke. It had a clear Brooklyn accent, "Let's see if they can defeat you like Mz. Sapphire."

"Not likely." A female voice said. It also had a clear Brooklyn accent, " Mz. Sapphire was defeated with brains, not brawn."

"What's the use of brains?" The male asked.

"Everything you do involves brains." The female snapped back.

"Then, why do I get F's in school?" The male asked.

"You're just lazy when it comes to schoolwork." The female responded.

Defeated, the male said, "I give."

The female giggled.

"Why are you two here?" Rajan demanded.

"Orders." The female answered almost immediately.

"From the top." The male added.

"So, you're here to watch." Rajan guessed.

"Pretty much." The male said.

"And report your success or failure." The female added.

"How are you two so sure I will fail?" Rajan inquired.

"We don't." The male said.

"We're here to watch and report." The female announced.

"I will not lose!" The tiger exclaimed furiously.

"Don't forget this, 'People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan.'" A new voice entered the room.

"Want do you want?" Rajan demanded.

"Just to watch." The mechanical voice answered.

"Are all of you making bets to see if I fail or not?!" The tiger roared with pure fury.

"Don't be idiotic, Rajan." The female voice spoke, "We came to watch, nothing more or less."

"I promise that Murry will feel my wrath!" Rajan said as the video showed the Cooper X Gang's van entering the jungle.

Next Chapter: Rumble in the Jungle, Day 1


	9. Rumble in the Jungle, Day One

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Eight: Rumble in the Jungle, Day 1

The group was in the hotel lobby, drinking their lemonade, and talking about the race after the long drive.

"Rajan will try anything to stop us." Justin stated.

"So we have to be careful." Mar guessed, as he was about to take a drink from his mug.

"Careful won't protect us much from the other racers." Rad said with a look of darkness in his eyes.

"So, we have to be ready." Luna announced.

"And then some." Belle added.

"What about the van?" Sam asked, worried about the group.

"Belle said that she did something about it." Murry said after finishing his fifth mug.

* * *

Meanwhile, two wolves circled around the van, looking for a way to in it.

"I can't see an opening." The older wolf said with an Indian accent.

"Then, let's make one!" The younger wolf announced with a Jersey accent.

As the young wolf swung the ax he carried, electricity entered the ax and pushed the attacker back.

"What the?!" The Jersey wolf exclaimed as he pulled out a metal baseball bat.

* * *

Back at the lobby, Sam still wanted to know if the van would be safe for the race.

"Don't worry." Belle reinsured the cat.

Before Sam said another word, a scream came from outside. Sam, Luna, and Mar ran to the window and saw a wolf on the ground with a bat in his hand.

"I don't need to asked anymore questions." The feline stated as she returned to the table with her friends.

"Oh, yeah." The white wolf and the brown rat agreed.

"Told ya." Rad said rather smugly.

"Don't be so smug; I could be right next time." Sam said.

"Attention, racers!" Rajan's voice announced via intercom.

"Here it comes." Murry announced.

"Steady." Justin said to his father.

"Welcome to all racers to my India race. Each team is assigned one or two racecars of their choice. Of course to make things fair, some of the cars have a few handicaps."

"Or malfunctions." Belle snarled quietly.

"As some of you know, this race can be the different between life or death on the track. But until then, good night."

The announcement was over, and the racers were talking about it.

Mar started, "Man, this is so…"

"Scary?" Sam finished.

"Yeah."

"Life or death on the track?" Luna asked herself, and then grinned, "Sounds good to me."

"Oh, boy." Rad said before drinking the last of his drink.

"No joke." The mouse confirmed.

"That's so cool!" Murry announced.

"Calm down, Dad." The hippo's son said.

"Let's go to our hotel rooms." The cat suggested.

"Yeah." Rad said with a grin.

"You stick to your room, Rad." The feline announced.

The raccoon laughed as he snapped his fingers to show his 'disappointment.'

"Don't say it." Luna pleaded as she laughed.

"What?" Rad asked.

"Calm down, it's just a joke." Justin announced.

"This one just was ruined." Belle commented.

The group laughed for a bit when they hear Sam yelled, "LET ME GO!"

"Sam!" The young Cooper announced nearly loud.

"Come on!" Mar ordered to the group.

The others followed Rad and Mar without any fail all the way to Sam's room.

"I hope anything's happened to Sam." The white wolf said, fearing the worse.

Then, a wolf flew out of the cat's room.

"Oh, it's not that bad." Luna said, very relieved.

Confused, the group entered the room and saw Sam pinning another wolf to the wall.

"Why did you attack me?" The furious feline demanded.

"Sam, calm down!" Rad intervened by grabbing Sam's arm and pulling her away from the wolf.

"Is that guy lucky!" Mar exclaimed at how the raccoon pulled his friend from her victim.

"Oh, yeah." Luna agreed.

Justin picked up the wolf, who the feline had pinned earlier.

"Okay, why did you attack Sam?"

"I did not attack her, Phil did." The older wolf answered, still shaken by being pinned to the wall.

"Phil?" Belle asked.

The elder wolf continued.

"We climbed the window to steal the car alarm device when she entered the room. Phil attacked."

"And she fought back." The mouse guessed.

"That's right." The speaker answered.

Sam was cooled down when Phil grabbed her from behind.

"Now, where's it?!" The Jersey wolf demanded.

"Right here!" The cat answered. Then she got out of the hold quickly and got behind him. Before the wolf turned around, the cat kicked him in the groin from behind, causing the wolf to said a meekly "Ow." before falling to the floor. That kick was so hard that the others felt it, despite the fact that they were not hit and some did not have that particular body part.

"Ow!" Rad said with a hiss.

"Right in the baby makers!" Justin said with his eyes shut tight.

"And from behind too." Mar added with one eye shut.

"Even the Murry's weak there." The hippo announced.

"Severs him right though." Belle said with Luna nodding her head in agreement.

The older wolf just groaned.

"That's what is going to happen to anyone who tries to manhandle me." Sam declared.

Unknown to the Cooper X Gang, the older wolf had a smoke bomb.

"I'll be sure that my boss hears that." The unharmed wolf said and threw the bomb onto the floor, causing a smokescreen.

"What the!" Luna exclaimed.

Then, a crash was heard.

"The window!" Belle yelled.

"At least the smoke will clear sooner." Rad joked.

"I don't know what's worse: Rad's timing to make a joke or the bill from the hotel." Justin announced.

"Wait and see." Mar commented.

When the smoke cleared, the two wolves were gone.

"Creeps." The cat yelled.

"No joke." The green haired mouse agreed.

"Look at the window!" The rat said, pointing to the nearly destroyed window.

The raccoon gave a low whistle and said, "That's going to be expensive."

"It can't be as bad as your timing for a joke." The husky said.

* * *

The older wolf with his unconscious partner managed to hide from the Cooper X Gang. He pulled out a cell phone and was about to dial a number when it rang.

"Oh, no." The elder exclaimed.

He answered the phone.

"Yes?"

"Have you done the job?"

"No." The wolf said meekly.

"And why not?"

"We couldn't get pass though the security."

"What?"

"Now don't get mad. We tried to break in, but there was an electric field around it. It knocked out Phil for a moment."

"Was there other way to break in?"

"Yes, but before we had the chance to search the room, one of them entered the room."

"Then?"

"Before I knew what was happening, the cat had screamed and thrown Phil out of the room, and her teammates came running in."

"Did you fight them?"

"I didn't, but Phil was the one who grabbed the cat before she threw him out of the room. After that, she pinned me to the wall. That's when the others came. After the leader pulled her away from me, they started asking me questions. Phil got up again and grabbed the cat again, and that's when she attacked him by kicking that one part from behind."

There was a silence for a moment, when the caller exclaimed, " She didn't!"

"Yes, sir." The wolf answered, "She did it so hard that it knocked Phil out."

A groan was heard from the caller.

"But I managed to escape and get Phil out."

"I have heard enough." The caller announced, "When Phil wakes up, I want him to call me. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." The caller said and hung up.

The elder wolf closed his phone and started to drag Phil back to their base.

In a nearby car, Sly and Carmelita were watching the wolves.

"You heard?" Sly asked his wife.

"Yep." The vixen answered her husband, "Phil screwed up again."

"To believe that Phil is the partner of his grandfather is hard." Sly stated.

"I know." Carmelita agreed.

"And now we know how dangerous Sam can be." The raccoon said, "She'd make for a wonderful daughter-in-law."

"Yeah." The inspector said, and then realized what she had agreed to. "What?!"

Sly laughed as his wife's face turned red from anger and embarrassment.

"Well, we'll have to see tomorrow."

Next Chapter: Rumble in the Jungle, Day 2


	10. Rumble in the Jungle, Day Two

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Nine: Rumble in the Jungle, Day 2

India, 9:00 a.m.

"This is it." Rad said as the van pulled up to the starting line.

"Yep." Justin confirmed in the driver's seat.

"Let's do it!" Luna agreed with the others agreeing with her.

"START YOUR ENGINES!" An announcer yelled.

All the racers did what they told and proved that they were ready to race.

"READY!"

Justin's grip tightened on the stirring wheel. Rad held on the Cooper Cane. Mar grabbed his staff. Murry ate the last doughnut before the race.

"SET!"

Luna had her hand on her harpoon. Sam held on to her whip. Belle placed her goggles over in her eyes.

"GO!"

The racers sped off with great speed with the Cooper X Gang's van as one of the fastest.

"Hold on tight!" Justin announced.

"Too late!" Justin's teammates yelled at the driver. Murry, however, was enjoying the speed.

"Go faster!" Justin's father demanded.

"Not yet." The son answered.

"I might be asking a dumb question, but can he go faster?" Sam asked Belle.

The mouse answered with a grim look on her face.

"Yes."

Then, a racer bumped into the van, pushing it to the side.

"What the-?!" The husky exclaimed as he looked into the rearview mirror. He saw the occupations of the car that bumped the van with weapons.

"We're in trouble!"

"Trouble!?" Belle exclaimed in fright.

"Then, let's give them trouble." Luna announced.

"Right!" Sam agreed as she grab for some explosives.

Gunshots entered the van. The six riders and the driver were almost hit by the bullets.

"Time to fight back!" Rad announced, while grabbing his shock rifle.

Sam opened the back windows and climbed out of it to the roof.

"Time to blow away the competition!" The cat declared.

Gunshots whizzed by the feline as she prepared to attack.

"If that's the best they can do, then this will be easy!" Sam told herself.

Once the bullets ceased firing at her, Sam started firing fireworks from her hands. The rockets hit their mark, destroying the wheels.

"One down!"

Then, the van hit a bump, causing Sam to fall off the van.

"Whoa!"

The cat would have fallen to her death if Rad had not used his cane to grabbed Sam and pulled her into the van.

"Thanks!" The feline said gratefully.

"Don't thank me just yet!" The raccoon replied, "The race just gotten started!"

Then, another racecar appeared.

"Boogie at six o'clock!" Rad yelled as he saw the racecar reveal a rifle.

The raccoon aimed and fired, hitting the car. It stopped in it's tracks.

"Whoa!" Luna exclaimed, very impressed, while Mar gave a low whistle.

Then, a rocket was heard overhead the van.

"That's not good." Belle announced meekly.

Then, the group heard an explosion.

"It didn't hit the van?!" Rad asked out loud.

"A rock slide!" Murry exclaimed upon seeing the event.

"Your turn, Belle!" Rad told the mouse.

"Right!" Belle responded.

She hopped onto a seat and pressed a button, which activated a specialized ray gun. The top of the van opened to allow Belle and the weapon to be outside.

"Ready!" The mouse yelled.

The rocks rolled to the van.

"Now!" Belle yelled as she fried at the boulders, turn then into pebbles.

"What happened!" Sam exclaimed, no longer seeing the boulders.

"She shrank them." Rad answered.

"Why?" Luna asked.

"I don't know." The raccoon shrugged his shoulders.

Then, Belle returned into the van as it retuned to normal.

"Cool!" Mar exclaimed in amazement.

"Yeah!" Luna agreed.

Then, something hit the roof.

"Trouble!" Rad yelled.

"Our turn!" Mar announced, "Come on, Luna!"

"Right behind you!" The white wolf announced.

Then, the two climbed out of the window and onto the roof. Once there, the duo saw a dhole in battle gear.

"Looks like trouble." Mar said, preparing to fight.

"That's fine with me!" Luna announced, popping her knuckles.

The red dog attacked Mar first, but Mar's staff blocked it.

"Nice try." The rat said, before attacking his assailant.

"Don't think so." The dhole growled in a British accent before trying to slice Mar with a battle knife, but Luna kicked the knife out of the attacker's hand.

"It is a nice try." The wolf announced, but the dhole was not hazed by the lack of weapons.

"You're a tough filly." The red dog commented, wiping the saliva off the side of his mouth.

"Thanks, but I'm already spoken for." Luna countered verbally.

Then, Mar swept the dhole's legs at the back of the knees, causing the dhole to fall off the van.

"That's going to hurt." Mar said, imaging the pain the red dog must have been in.

"Fine!" The wolf said cruelly as she started climbing back into the van.

* * *

"A dhole!?" The mouse exclaimed loudly after hearing Luna and Mar's story.

"Yeah." The white wolf answered, " What's wrong?"

"It's a dhole! If we have to fight dholes, we're dead were we stand!" Belle yelled.

"Can you explain?" Sam asked before Justin hitting a bump, causing everyone to bounce up and landing hard.

"Dholes are supposed to be every tough." Luna explained rather apathetic about the seriousness of the dholes.

"How do you know?" Belle asked very surprised.

"When your mom's a headmistress of a boarding school, you tend to learn a few things the other students won't learn." The wolf answered, rolling her eyes.

"She has a point there, Belle." Rad admitted.

"Thanks." Luna grinned.

"But, Belle also has a point." The raccoon said, causing Luna's grin to disappear.

"Belle, can't you just shrink the dholes?" Sam asked.

"I can't do that." The mouse answered.

"Why not?" Mar asked.

"Because I can only shrink non-organic matter."

"That's one plan down." Rad said, disappointed about the lack of plans.

"Looks like we have to fight." The cat said, seeing no other way.

"You're kidding!" Belle accused Sam, hoping she was joking.

"Nope." The feline admitted.

The mouse laughed nervously, but no one else was laughing with her.

"Speaking of fighting…" Rad started, while looking out of the window before bullets started to pierce into the van.

All of them, including Justin and Murry managed to avoid getting hit by the small projectiles.

"That was close!" Murry said, a little shaken from the bullets.

"Too close." Justin yelled as he saw that the racecar drove up next to them.

Another car drove up to Murry's side.

"Now, you'll feel the Murry's wrath!" The hippo announced to the racer.

The car on Justin's side slammed into the van, almost causing Justin to lose control.

"This is bad!" Belle yelled.

The car on Murry's side slammed into the van.

"Let's knock them down!" Murry yelled as he removed his seatbelt.

"Dad!" Justin yelled, but Murry ignored him and opened the door.

"Come get me!"

The racecar tried to ram the hippo, but Murry punched the hood of the car with his fist and the car started to lose speed.

"Whoa!" Sam yelled in amazement after seeing the feat.

Murry grinned, seeing that he still had some punch left in him.

"What about the one on Justin's side?" Belle yelled.

"Leave that to me." Rad said, climbing through the back window.

"Be careful." The mouse yelled.

"Don't worry, Mom." Rad joked.

Once outside and on the van's roof, the heir of the Cooper clan aimed his rifle at the opponent racecar.

"Don't miss with my friends."

The raccoon fired. The shot hit the car, blowing out three of the four tires. The car lost speed and disappeared from Rad's sight.

"All right!"

Rad climbed down and re-entered the van.

"Great job." Mar said to the raccoon.

"Thanks." Rad grinned.

"The seven of us against an army of dholes." Belle thought, "I guess I'm wrong."

"Don't say that." The rat said.

"Yeah." Luna agreed, "Then, we won't have a reason to prove you wrong."

Belle glared at the white wolf, who was laughing.

"So, are we near the finish line?" Sam asked.

"Yes." Justin answered when a projectile crashed into the van.

"What the-?!" Belle yelled.

Then, Sam threw it out of the window.

"Sam!" Exclaimed Justin.

"What?"

"You're nuts!" The mouse yelled.

"What could happen?" The cat asked, aloof about the object.

Then, an explosion came from behind the van.

"You want us to explain now?" Belle asked.

Sam shook her head.

"Here we are!" Justin announced.

"Careful!" Rad said.

"I know." The husky answered as he slowed the van down.

The van stopped.

"Why do I know this place?" Murry asked out loud.

Then, several lights turned on and pointed at the van.

"What do we do?!" Belle screamed.

"Calm down!" Rad said.

"We're gonna die!" The mouse yelled in fright.

"We're not!" Luna announced, "But if we are, we'll die fighting.

"Agreed." Sam, and Mar said, siding with Luna.

"Now, that's an idea!" Murry agreed.

"Let's do it!" Justin said.

Then, everyone exited the van, expecting a group of thugs to surround them.

"What's going on?" Justin asked Rad after a few seconds of waiting.

Then, a dart flew and hit the husky on the arm.

"What?!" Justin said, becoming dazed until he passed out.

"Tranquilizer darts!" Belle yelled, "Look out!"

It was the last thing the mouse said before a dart hit her on the shoulder and submitting to the serum in the projectile.

Luna was next to submit to the serum by being hit on the thigh. Mar held his ground for a small while until a dart hit him on the chest. Murry was hit in the backside and fell to the ground, leaving Sam and Rad by themselves.

"This is not good!" Sam said loudly before deflecting a dart by using her whip.

"Tell me something I don't know!" Rad said, while hitting a dart away from himself by using his cane.

"We have to leave!" The cat announced.

"What!?" The raccoon exclaimed, almost getting hit by a dart in a middle of dodging another.

"We have no choice!"

Rad was furious.

"I refuse to do it!"

"How are going to save them if you get captured?"

The raccoon thought while dodging and deflecting the darts.

"Let's go!"

"Right!" The cat grinned.

The two started running off into the jungle with the darts chasing them.

"After them!" Rajan's voice echoed through the jungle.

The dholes gave chase while the last two members of the Cooper X Gang ran.

"We got company!" Sam announced, almost out of breath.

"I don't need to know that!" Rad snapped, still upset about leaving his friends.

Then, Rad felt a sharp pain in his back, and the last thing he heard was Sam calling out his name before his world went black.


	11. Operation: Rescue!

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Ten: Operation Rescue.

India, 9:00 p.m.

Rad stirred from his drug-induced sleep and looked around, trying to remember what happened.

"Sam?"

"Don't worry, she's all right."

Rad turned around and tried to see who was talking to him, but his vision was blurred. However, he recognized the voice.

"Why try to sabotage us, then save us?" Rad asked.

"Ask your parents."

"What?" Rad asked.

"Rad, clam down." Carmelita commanded sweetly.

"Mom?"

"You've taken a dart in the back and need some rest."

"But where's Sam?" Rad asked loudly.

"Is your vision blurred?" Carmelita asked, trying to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject." Rad snapped.

"Don't talk that way to your mother." Rad's father commanded.

"Dad?"

Sly chuckled before answering.

"Well, it's not Santa Claus."

Rad let out a laugh before asking where Sam was again.

"Rad," Sly said, "She's taken five tranquilizer darts; she won't be awake for a while."

"But where was she, Dad?"

Sly grabbed his son's hand and led to Sam's head, which was next to Rad!

"Sam?"

"That's right." Rad's father confirmed.

Rad grinned and said, "Thanks."

"No problem, now rest. You've a big day tomorrow."

"Okay."

After Rad started resting, Sly, Carmelita, and the wolves gathered around the campfire.

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" The elder wolf asked.

"There's no other alterative." Carmelita said.

"That and Rad has a reason for becoming a thief." Sly added, earning a glare from his wife.

"But do we need that cat with us?" Asked the younger, Jersey wolf, still upset at her for kicking him between the legs.

"Well, she did kick you out of self-defense." The fox said, trying her best not to laugh.

"And if I recall, it was your idea to sneak into the room." The elder wolf added, also resisting the urge to laugh.

Sly, however, could not speak, because he was too busy laughing.

"Phil, we know that it's hard for one to control oneself." The elder wolf said before bursting out with laughter.

The Jersey wolf grew red with frustration.

"Grandpa! You're supposed to be on my side!"

"I'm sorry, Phil." The old wolf laughed, "But where something like this happens, it's sometimes too hard to resist."

Rad, having heard the conversation, grinned.

* * *

6:00 a.m.

Sam started stirring and got up.

"You better take it easy." Carmelita said.

"Inspector Cooper?"

"Glad you remember me."

"Still mad?" Sam asked, remembering infuriating the officer by kissing her son.

"Not anymore."

Sam grinned weakly, still feeling groggy from the tranquilizer darts.

"Take it easy, you took five darts in the back." The fox said to the cat.

"That many?" Sam asked, "That's two more than Mrs. Wong said I could stand."

"Mrs. Wong?" Carmelita asked.

"The noodle shop owner in Little China, where I lived."

"_Wong's Noodles_?" The fox asked.

"Yeah. You've been there?"

"No, but the takeout was good."

"You should try the food at the restaurant; it's tastes better." The feline suggested.

"I'm guessing that fresher is better."

"Yeah." The cat laughed.

"Now, I have a question." The vixen said, changing the subject.

"It is?"

"Why did you join a gang of thieves?"

"Because." Sam answered bluntly.

"That's all?" The inspector asked.

"Yep." The cat grinned mischievously.

"Is that all you're going to say?"

"For now." Sam answered with giggle.

Carmelita laughed as well as she said, "You're a strange kid."

"And you're a strange cop." The cat said.

"So, what's new?"

The feline laughed a bit.

"Phil may not like you after what you did to him, though." The fox said, remembering how against working with Sam the younger wolf was.

"Phil?" Sam asked, remembering the name, "Isn't he that wolf I kicked out cold?"

"Yeah." Carmelita confirmed.

"He is a sissy." The cat said, remembering the break-in.

"Well, it's not everyday a guy gets hit between the legs." The fox said, trying to see what Sam thought.

"On the streets that I grew up on, if you get hit 'there,' you better get back up quickly." The feline explained, "Otherwise, you're dead or worse."

Carmelita's face grew pale at the explanation, seeing that the girl might not be surprised if she saw all of her-Sam-friends dead.

"What's wrong, Inspector?" Sam asked, seeing the tinting of the fox's face.

"Nothing!" The vixen quickly answered, showing the fear in her face.

The cat cocked an eyebrow at the fox, not believing her.

"Okay!" The office fox admitted, "I'm just not use to talking to someone who possibly not cry for a friend after they have been killed."

The cat glared at the inspector with harsh eyes.

"What? I said what I thought!"

The cat rolled her eyes and said, "You non-street folk don't understand."

Now, it was Carmelita's turn to look at someone with harsh eyes.

"And what is that supposed to mean!?"

"You think that because I'm from the streets, that means I'm a heartless harlot!" Sam announced, surprising the vixen, "Well, here's something for you to learn: People on the streets are the ones who cry the most! We see deaths every day, and don't you dare forget it!"

The police officer was shocked of the cat's honestly tears.

"I'm sorry."

"Not enough for me." Sam said, furious at the inspector for being so narrow-minded.

"Excuse my mom, Sam." Rad said, having heard all of the conversation.

"Rad!" The mother said, very shocked.

"Why?" The cat asked coldly.

The son and the mother looked at each other, hoping for an answer, but the actions were in vain.

"I asked a question." Sam said.

"Because she's incorrect." Rad answered quickly.

Then, Sam started giggling.

"Why you sneak!" Carmelita growled in her throat.

"I still got you twice." The cat said, laughing.

"Twice?!" The fox asked.

"I got you thinking that you've insulted me to the point that I hate you." Sam explained, "But what I said about the streets also got you thinking about judging people as well."

"So, you weren't joking." The officer said.

"Yes and no."

"We better get some rest before sunrise." Inspector Fox announced.

"Right, Mom." Rad agreed before laying down to rest.

"Alright." Sam said before returning to sleep.

* * *

9:00 a.m.

Sam woke up and looked for Rad, who was missing while the others were asleep.

"Rad?"

"Over here."

The cat turned to the direction of the voice and saw Rad.

"Rad!" Sam said loudly.

The raccoon placed his finger over his lips to remind her to be quiet.

Sam saw what Rad meant and covered her mouth.

"Come on." Rad mouthed to the feline.

The cat obeyed and managed to avoid the sleeping officers of the law. But when she tried to tiptoe pass Sly Cooper, the raccoon officer grabbed the cat by the ankle.

"Going somewhere?" Constable Cooper asked jokingly.

The cat grinned sheepishly as the other officers 'woke' up.

"Rad, get back here." Carmelita said to her son.

The two thieves sighed at the sight of their 'capture.'

"That'll teach ya." Phil bragged.

"Watch it." Sam warned the wolf.

"Or what?" Phil dared the cat.

"Phil!" The older wolf yelled at his grandson.

"What!?"

"don't you remember the last time you infuriated her?" The grandfather said, trying to keep Phil out of trouble.

"She was the one who harmed me!" Phil countered.

"And you were the one who gave the impression of intended harm by grabbing her!" The elder announced.

Having nothing else to say, Phil fell silent.

Sam gloated at the younger wolf.

"Grandpa, one. You, nada."

"Watch it!" Growled Phil, who was still upset about being kicked in a sensitive place on his body.

"Whatever." The cat said.

"Sam, Rad." Sly Cooper called to the would-be run-aways.

"Yeah." Rad said, rather nervous about what his father's words were going to be.

"what is it" The feline asked, who was not as nervous as her friend.

"If you two want to save your friends, you'll need our help." The elder raccoon announced.

"and that means no more fighting among us." Carmelita added, glaring at Sam and Phil.

"I can live with that." The cat said with shrugged shoulders.

"Fine." Phil growled.

"Okay, then it's agreed." Phil's grandfather said with a grin.

"Okay." Rad agreed, "What's the plan?"

"Well…" Sly started as he told his plan.

* * *

Sunset

The group of the remaining members of the Cooper X Gang and the Cooper's police force was ready to rescue the other members of the gang of thieves and arrest Rajan.

"Ready guys?" Carmelita asked via walkie-talkie.

"Ready." Sly answered.

"All the dholes asleep yet?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"That's good to hear, Sly!" The fox said, "I'll see you later."

Then, she changed the signial on the walkie-talkie.

"Phil, your group ready?" The fox asked.

"Yes, ma'am!" Phil answered.

The female officer put away the walkie-talkie.

"Me too." Sam said, trying not to lose her patience.

"Don't worry. Phil and his grandfather are at the dam, and Rad and Sly need us to distract Rajan." The fox said, motioning the cat to follow.

"Well, at least I get to fight, if I'm lucky." Sam said before following Inspector Fox.

* * *

Rajan was circling his jungle temple domain when he spotted Carmelita and Sam.

"This seems too easy." The tiger said to himself as he watched the fox and the cat just waiting.

While he was thinking of what to do next, Rad and Sly sneaked pass him and entered the dungeon.

"So far, so good." Rad said as the father-son team made their way through the dark, damp dungeon.

"But expect the unexpected." Sly said, which confused his son.

The two walked for a few minutes before hearing a voice.

"Mr. Cooper?"

"It's Belle!" Rad said, happy to hear his friend's voice again.

"Quiet!" The father warned softly, but it was too late; two rhino guards appeared.

"What the?" one said before being hit on the head by the Cooper Cane.

"Hey!" The other exclaimed in a higher pitched voice, but he also received a hit as well.

After both guards were out cold, Sly said, "Next time, keep your voice down."

"Sorry!" Rad said.

"Hey, it's Rad and his dad!" Justin announced, altering the captured group of their rescuers.

"Sly!" Murry said, happy to see his old friend again after a long time.

"Hi, Murry." The elder raccoon said, also happy to see his old friend.

"Hey, safe the mush for later!" Luna said, waiting to be free.

"Luna!" Mar hissed, "They're here to rescue us, so don't be rude."

"Well, excuse me!" The white wolf said, not at all sorry.

"Sly!" Phil's voice rang from the older raccoon's walkie-talkie.

"Yeah?" Sly answered.

"We're ready!"

"Okay." The raccoon put away his walkie-talkie.

"Sounds like it's time to go." Rad said, knowing there was no need to ask.

"Yep." Sly answered.

"About time!" Luna said rudely.

Rad raised his cane and was about to crack open the cell, when his father stopped him.

"Dad!" The young raccoon exclaimed loudly.

"That's not a good idea." Sly said, still holding his son's wrist.

"Then, what's your idea?" Rad demanded.

Sly just grinned and said, "This." He showed a toothpick.

"Oh." Rad said, regretfully about his words, "That."

The Cooper elder just shook his head as he saw his son's sheepish grin and proceeded to pick the lock, which took about a few seconds.

"Don't forget that your old man was a thief." Sly said as the others escaped the cell.

"Thank goodness!" Belle exclaimed in happy relief.

"You can say that again." Justin said, agreeing with the mouse.

"Yeah." Luna also agreed.

"Let's go now!" Mar said, still remembering the walkie-talkie.

"Right!" Rad agreed with the brown rat.

Then, the members of the two Cooper gangs dashed out of the dungeon to freedom and to the possible chance of getting back at Rajan.

* * *

Meanwhile, Phil and his grandfather were making sure that the bombs were in place.

"Everything's ready!" Phil yelled to his grandfather.

"Good!" The older wolf said, "Now we wait for the signal."

"What signal?" The grandson asked.

"Let's just say that when we see it, it'll make you happy."

* * *

Back to the Cooper gangs, they reached outside when they saw Carmelita and Sam fighting Rajan.

"We have to help them!" Belle yelled.

"Don't worry." Rad said, "It's part of the plan."

"Huh?" The group asked.

"Just watch." Sly said.

The group just watched while the two women fought against a common enemy.

Rajan slashed at Sam, who dodged the claws. Carmelita shot at the tiger with her shock pistol. The shot hit it's mark, but Rajan only became more furious and roared in fury. Sam pulled out her whip and activated the tip of the whip. The cat threw whirled the whip around like a will 'o wisp.

"The Will 'O Wisp Whip!" Rad announced.

Sly covered his son's mouth before Rajan heard him. Lucky for the groups, Rajan did not hear the young raccoon. Then, the dam blew up!

"What?!" The tiger yelled as his opponents ran off.

The water rushed from the high dam and to the temple.

"Not again!" Rajan roared as he tried to reach higher ground.

Sam and Carmelita, however, were ready for the water and had a boat ready.

"Sam, the boat's here!" The fox yelled.

"I'm coming!" The cat yelled back.

The two entered the boat and in a few seconds, the flooding water rocked around the boat until the water subsided.

* * *

After the floods, the police found a waterlogged Rajan, barely awake when the Coopers arrested him.

"Well, at least this time, we're not the one in handcuffs." Sly said to his wife, who agreed with him.

"Or any member of the Cooper X Gang." Carmelita added.

"Thanks, Grandpa!" Phil said, catching the Coopers' attention.

"It's not a problem." The old wolf said, also blushing.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Cooper X Gang was driving away from the temple and the cops.

"That was very surprising!" Belle said to Rad and Sam.

"What is?" Rad asked the mouse.

"The fact that Carmelita and I worked together?"

"Yeah!" The green-haired mouse answered.

"The surprising part for me was seeing Sly again without being arrested." Murry announced.

"For me, it was the darts." Luna said.

"Really?" Justin asked, shocked at the wolf.

"Yeah."

The conversation of surprises lasted until the group reached the airport.

* * *

On an airplane flying over the Cooper Gang van, Rajan's fellow members of the Fiendish Claws are watching Rajan's incarceration.

"What an moron!" The male dog announced.

"Yeah!" The female agreed, turning off the screen.

"Rajan didn't even get to the part which Murry was gonna get it, Connie!"

"I know, Blyde." Connie said, "And worse yet, we have to report this."

"Don't bother!" The mechanical voice announced itself from the screen that Connie just turned off.

"It's the boss, Sis!" Blyde whimpered.

Connie was frozen with pure fear.

* * *

Next Chapter: Beware of Dogs!


	12. Beware of Dogs

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Beware of Dogs

It had been two weeks since the gang returned from India, and they were bored. Murry returned to Paris, despite the fact that he would face the fury of his wife, Sam has left Mar's house every other day for an unknown reason, and Belle has been e-mailing her father about the activities of the Fiendish Claws, but no luck.

"I'm tired of this effing waiting!" Luna exclaimed loudly, waking Justin, who was napping on the couch.

"'Effing?'" Belle asked, looking from her laptop.

"Hey, you rather me drop the F-bomb?" The wolf asked the mouse, annoyed.

"No."

"Then, don't make any smart comments!"

"I think she has that right." Mar scoffed at Luna from the safety of the stairway.

"What!?"

"You've said the same thing at least once a day everyday this week!" The rat explained as he retreated to upstairs.

"You want to say that to my face?" Luna asked hotly, "'Cause I want it spoken to my face!"

Mar, in fear, ran up the stairs with Luna closing in from behind. Belle sighed deeply, knowing that the gang does not find some action against the Fiendish Claws soon, they might start having causalities.

"Boy, things are going to get worse, if things don't picking soon." Justin yawned out as he sat up.

"I know." Belle agreed.

Justin looked around and noticed something was off.

"Hey, Belle. Where's Rad?"

* * *

Rad was in Little China, following Sam to where she was going. He has been wondering about Sam's activities for the two weeks since the gang returned home. The raccoon decided to follow the cat and see what she was up to.

Now, Sam was in a restaurant, _Wong's Restaurant_, which is very popular. All kinds of people were going in and out, and Rad was one of them.

Rad looked for Sam when he saw the cat exiting the front door. He reached for the door when he bumped into a panda.

"Excuse me, young man!" The lady panda announced upon seeing the raccoon, "Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"

"Sorry, ma'am." Rad said sincerely, "I was trying to find a friend."

The panda's facial expression soften as she said, "Don't let me caught you without your manners again."

Seeing this as permission to leave Rad ran out of the restaurant and after Sam. The lady looked at the raccoon one more time before the raccoon disappeared in the crowd.

"That child looks just like his father."

* * *

Rad, once outside, saw Sam driving away in a SUV, which surprised the raccoon.

"I didn't know she could drive."

Then, the raccoon climbed a building and followed the SUV via rooftops.

At an abandoned pier, the SUV drove in and stopped. Once the engine was off, Sam exited the car.

"I think you're improving." A gruff voice said from the inside of the SUV.

"Sorry about that." Sam said, bowing her head, "I was going too fast."

"Don't worry, you're still learning."

Sam still kept apologizing.

"I know, but still…"

"Enough."

* * *

Rad had caught up with the SUV, which was difficult him for since it was going over the speed limit.

"I now know why she doesn't drive." The raccoon complained as he looked for Sam.

Then, he saw the cat and she was fighting with a giant panda! Rad wanted to jump in, but he knew that Sam could take care of herself very well. So, he decided to wait to see if the cat needed help.

The fight was lasted for a few seconds, when Sam ducked from an attack, causing the panda to lose his balance and fall into the water.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked, laughing at the drenched panda.

"Just help me up." The panda groaned.

"Okay." The cat said as she reached for the panda, still laughing, but not for long.

* * *

Rad was laughing at seeing Sam becoming drenched herself, because the panda pulled her into the water herself. The raccoon was laughing so hard, that he almost fall to the ground. He was laughing a little too loud as well.

"Sounds like we were followed." Sam said to the panda.

"Let us see that the tracker can avoid this." The panda said, preparing a firework to blast the pursuer to bits.

"I wouldn't try to blow up a member of the Cooper family." The cat said, stopping the panda in his tracks.

"The Cooper family?"

"That's right." Sam grinned.

The panda was shocked at Sam's words.

"I'll go get him." The cat said.

The feline climbed the building, until she saw Rad recovering from his laughing fit.

"Hi, Rad."

The raccoon looked over and saw Sam climbing up.

"Hi, Sam."

"Why are you here?" Sam asked the raccoon.

"Just looking around." Rad answered, hoping the cat would believe him.

"Tell the truth, Cooper." The feline frowned.

"What makes you say that?"

Sam just glared at the raccoon.

"All right, I was following you to see what were you up to." Rad admitted to the cat.

The cat smiled and said, "If you wanted to know, all you had to do was ask."

"I know, but I thought that you wouldn't…"

Sam glared at the raccoon again, insulted by what Rad thought.

"I expected better from you!"

"But, Sam, I didn't mean it that way."

Then the cat grinned mischievously.

"Gottcha!"

Rad was shocked at Sam's prank.

"Not funny, Sam."

"It's hilarious to me." The cat responded with a giggle.

"Ha ha." The raccoon said dryly.

The cat giggled a bit before asking Rad a question.

"Wanna meet the reason why I've been going out?"

"Sure." Rad answered with a grin.

* * *

"So, you are the son of Sly Cooper." The Panda King said to the young raccoon.

Rad nodded, too frightened to speak. Sam giggled at the sight of the raccoon's face.

"Don't worry, Rad." The cat said, "He's kinder than he looks."

"I hope so." Rad said, scratching his head.

"Do not worry, young Cooper." The Panda King said to Rad, "Any malice I had towards your father died, when he helped me rescue my daughter, Jing King."

Rad looked at Sam for help.

"Mrs. Wong." The cat said.

"You mean from _Wong's Restaurant_?" The raccoon asked.

"Yep." The feline grinned brightly.

Rad grinned just as bright, when his cell phone rang.

"Wait a minute!" The raccoon said, retrieving and answering his phone, "Hi, Belle."

"Rad, where are you?" The mouse's voice rang through the speaker.

"With Sam."

"Really!?"

"Yeah." Rad responded.

Sam also confirmed Rad's words.

"Hi, Belle."

"Hi, Sam." Belle answered before talking to Rad again.

"Rad, we have new information about the Fiendish Claws!"

"Really?" The raccoon asked, "We'll be right back!"

Then, Rad hung up and returned the cell phone back into its place.

"We have to go, Panda King."

"I understand." The giant panda said, "Just keep Sam safe."

"Okay." Rad responded, unsure about why the Panda King asked such a favor.

As Rad and Sam dashed off, the cat yelled to the Panda King.

"See ya, Grandpa!"

Rad wanted to asked but knew that would have to wait.

* * *

The two returned to the mansion, when Luna confronted them.

"What's the big deal about you running off!?" The white wolf yelled at Sam.

"She's been training." Rad answered for the cat.

"I'm capable for speaking for myself." Sam said.

"Sorry." The raccoon blushed.

"Training, huh?" Luna spoke.

"Yep." The cat answered.

The she-wolf shrugged her shoulders.

"Better than sitting on our tails, doing nothing." Luna said with a hint of envy in her voice. Then, she went to her room.

"She sounds a little scary." Rad commented to Sam.

"Should I be concerned?" The cat asked.

"Never mind." The raccoon said, "Let's find Belle."

"Okay."

* * *

"So, Mugshot's kids are in our neck of the woods." Rad said after Belle explained the situation.

"In a manner of speaking." Belle confirmed.

"Where are they exactly?" Sam asked.

"Well, Luna might not like it." The mouse answered.

"We're going to Austin." The cat confirmed.

The 'guess' surprised the green haired mouse.

"That's right." Belle said.

"Luna's really not gonna like this." The cat said, worried.

"WHAT!" The white wolf howled in a great rage.

"Don't blame us!" Mar exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Justin agreed, "Blame Connie and Blyde."

Then, Luna fell to her knees and into a depressed state of mind.

"Why me?" The wolf whined.

Sam thought of something and went to her friend's side.

'At least, you're with friends."

"Yeah." Rad agreed.

Luna looked at the gang and saw that Sam and Rad were right. She dropped her head again and said, "Thanks, guys."

Belle saw tears come down from the wolf's face.

"You're welcome." The mouse said with a kind smile on her face.

* * *

Next Chapter: Beware of Dogs, Day One.


	13. Beware of Dogs, Day One

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Beware of Dogs, Day One.

Austin, Texas, 10:01 a.m.

"I hate this…" Luna moaned as the gang approached the front door of a mansion.

"Quit complaining." Mar said.

"Yeah, we only staying here at your place until the Mugshots are in jail." Belle replied.

Rad let out a loud whistle, impressed by the size of the mansion.

Sam came up behind Rad.

"You can say that again."

"I think I will." The raccoon joked.

The cat laughed as the door opened before Mar had the chance of ring the bell.

"LUNANNA!"

"Oh, great!" The white, lavender-haired wolf grumbled before being smothered by an older white she-wolf.

"Is that…?" Mar asked.

"I believe so." Belle said, unsure herself.

"Hi, mom." Luna groaned.

"Hi, Lunanna." The mother said to her daughter.

"I'm to think that Luna finds her mother's affections tortuous." Belle analyzed.

"Yeah." Sam agreed.

The mother released Luna and looked at the gang.

"You must be Lunanna's friends."

"Yep!" Rad answered.

The she-wolf giggled a bit.

"Nice to meet you."

"I thought it's intros first, then the 'nice to meet yous.'" Sam said.

"Oh!" Luna's mother said, noticing her mistake that the cat pointed out, "You're right. I'm Victoria Lupinia-Lousteau."

The gang introduced themselves one at a time.

"Sly Cooper."

"Samantha Down."

"Justin Thunder."

"Belle Genius."

"Mar Warren."

"Nice to meet ya'll right now." The white wolf grinned.

"I think it's time to go inside." Mar pointed out.

"Yeah!" Luna agreed, rushing to the mansion.

"What's wrong with Lunie?" Victoria asked her daughter's friends.

The gang shrugged their shoulders.

* * *

Once in the mansion, each member of the gang was given a room, and the gang went to the rooms to sleep, but a few things were discussed before they went to bed.

Sam was getting ready to sleep on the floor, when Rad entered her room and saw the self-made bed.

"Sam?" The raccoon asked the cat.

"Yeah?" Sam replied without looking.

"I have a few questions." Rad said, still looking at the bed that Sam made herself.

"Ask away, Rad." The feline said.

"Okay." The raccoon replied, "Why are you making a bed on the floor?"

"Because." The cat said.

"Because…?"

"I don't like taking a bed that isn't mine."

"Why?" Rad asked, confused at the answer and the action.

"I always have thought that it's rude to take someone else's bed." Sam said, getting up to her feet, having finished making the makeshift bed.

"But, Sam, it's a guest bed. It's supposed to be slept in by a guest, and you're a guest." Rad explained slowly.

"Oh!" The cat laughed at herself, "I didn't think about it that way." Sam went back to her knees and started to put away the self-made bed, when she said, "And, the next time you talk to me like I was an idiot, you will be hurting for a week."

Rad jumped back.

"Okay! That's fair! Sorry."

The cat giggled a little and said, "It's okay. Anymore questions?"

"Yeah." Rad confirmed, "When we left the Panda King, I heard you call him 'Grandpa.'"

"And you want to know why." Sam guessed with a grin.

"Yeah." The raccoon confirmed.

"It's a long story." The feline warned.

"I have a law enforcer for a mother and an ex-thief for a father. What do you think?" Rad chuckled loudly.

"Don't say that I didn't warn ya." Sam giggled.

"I won't." Rad said.

"Okay." The cat said, "I met the Panda King when I was nine. I was getting into trouble with that monkey, your parents arrested. He was trying to catch me to traffic to the Middle East, and I wasn't planning to go any farther than my parents' grave. For a few weeks, I keep his men at bay and away. Then, one day, I messed up on a getaway and tripped over my own two feet and landed on the ground…hard."

"Ow!" The raccoon said.

"That's what I said at the time." Sam said before returning to telling her story, "So, there I was, on the ground with a bleeding knee and surrounded by a five thugs."

"Five?" Rad asked the feline.

"Yeah," Sam confirmed, "four men was a piece of cake to me at that age."

"I get it." The Cooper heir said, "Back to the story."

"Thanks." The cat shook her head as she returned to the story, "I thought I was done for, when the next thing I knew was the thugs were out cold and a giant was standing over me."

"The Panda King." Rad guessed, even though he knew that he was correct.

"Right." Sam said, "He picked me up, took me to his daughter's home, had me bandaged and taken care of, and gave me a chance to have a family, but I felt like I was a burden to them. Don't get me wrong; I love the Panda King and his family, but I felt that I was being unfaithful to my parents."

"You really felt that way about being unfaithful to your dead parents?" The raccoon asked the cat.

"I was nine and still recovering from the shock from the loss of my parents, at least that's what I thought at the time."

"It's a long time ago." Rad said to the cat.

"Man, I miss my parents." Sam's voice was breaking with tears started to roll from her eyes and down her cheeks.

Rad could understand; he left his parents to protect them from the Fiendish Claws. So, he embraced Sam to comfort her. "It's okay to cry."

Then, Sam felt something warm and wet on her fur.

"Rad, are you crying?"

Rad did not answer, but he tightened his arms around the cat. Seeing that, Sam warped her arms around Rad to comfort him.

"Rad…"

* * *

Meanwhile in Belle's room, the mouse was trying to work out the plan for getting the Mugshot's arrested, when a knock was heard.

"Who is it?" Belle asked.

"It's Mar."

"Come in." The mouse answered, allowing the rat to enter her room.

"I was wondering about…uhhh."

"Spit it out." Belle said.

"I'm sorry." Mar said, "I wanted to talk to you."

"Now was that hard?" The mouse asked.

"Yeah." Mar answered, "I wanted to tell you in a graceful manner."

Belle giggled a bit.

"Just talk to me like a normal person."

"I know I can but…"

"What?" Belle asked.

"I don't know." Mar said, "Lately, I've wanted to talk to you."

"And…?"

"And I wanted to impress you." The rat admitted.

"You're joking." Belle said, not believing her ears.

"I'm not."

Belle scoffed a bit before talking.

"You've have impressed me already."

Mar was shocked by the mouse's words.

"What!?"

"You're a very powerful student of the Dreamtime." Belle said, "You're a real team player, and you help out whenever the gang started trying to kill each other."

The rat blushed, and asked, "Is that all?"

"Well," the mouse said, "you're bright, intelligent, and not a bad dresser."

"Belle." Mar said shaking his head as he laughed.

"Mar?"

"Yes?" The rat replied.

"Are you interested in me?" The green haired mouse asked, blushing a little.

Mar blushed again.

"What makes you say that?"

Then, Belle kissed Mar on the face, causing the rat to glow neon red.

"That." The mouse grinned.

* * *

In Luna's room, Luna was trying to pack her stuff, when Justin entered her room.

"Luna, what are you doing?"

"I'm leaving." The white wolf replied.

"You can't!" The husky protested.

"Watch me!" Luna growled, lifting her backpack to her shoulder.

Justin went towards the wolf and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Let me go!" Luna howled, kicking and struggling to free herself from the husky's grip.

"No!" The husky growled.

Then, Justin kissed her, which ceased Luna's struggling and brought confusion to the wolf's face.

"What…? How…? Why?" Luna stuttered.

"I just don't want you to leave." The husky said, sadly.

Luna blushed when Luna's mother entered the room and saw the sight.

"Uh, oh." The wolf said.

"This is NOT what it looks like." Justin said, trying to avoid trouble.

"I know." The pure-white wolf said, and exited the room.

"That was weird." Both canines asked, confused at Victoria's behavior.

* * *

Victoria placed her hands together, and gave a 'Thank you,' and went to her room, very happy.

* * *

Next Chapter: Beware of Dogs, Day Two.


	14. Beware of Dogs, Day Two

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Thirteen: Beware of Dogs, Day Two.

Austin, Texas, 3:00 a.m.

On the rooftops of the city, Rad and Sam were on recon on the Mugshots.

"So, this is recon?" Sam asked.

"Yep." Rad answered.

Then, the two were on the building were the Mugshots were supposed to be at.

"Here we are!" The raccoon announced.

"Good!" The cat giggled, "I was feeling strange about this."

"I felt the same way on my first time." Rad said.

"When was that?" Sam asked.

"The first time my parents took me to work, although I wasn't suppose to be with them." Rad admitted, blushing a little bit.

"Sounds like something I would do." The cat laughed. Then, she cleared her throat and said, "But we need to get back to work."

Rad laughed and found an air vent.

"It's good to see you're still working." Sam laughed a little.

Rad rolled his eyes and entered the vent, and Sam followed.

The two crawled around the vents until they found the room where the Mugshots were.

"Here we are." Rad whispered.

Sam shook her head at the raccoon as they started the recon.

"Hey, guys?" Belle's voice rang from the communication device in Rad's ear.

The raccoon hushed the mouse as Sam took pictures.

"Sorry." Belle said before she disconnected her end of the communication line.

Rad removed the communication device from his ear and place a listening device in the other.

"The boss wants her and now!" Connie said; fear consumed her voice.

"Yeah!" Blyde agreed.

"That girl is the only thing to stands between us and the boss' fury."

"Yeah."

"Well, except jail."

"Yep."

"What are you doing?"

"Agreeing."

Connie stopped and pondered for a small time before speaking again.

"Good point."

Meanwhile, the eavesdropping duo was confused.

"'The boss?'" Sam asked, a little scared.

"'Her?'" Rad asked.

Then, a weasel came in the room.

"Boss!"

"What!?" The Mugshots demanded in unison.

"Some of us saw two figures on the rooftops!" The weasel informed the siblings.

Connie and Blyde looked at each other and said the same thing.

"The Cooper X Gang!"

Hearing this, Rad and Sam saw that it was time to leave. Once outside the vent, the two ran and jumped.

"There they are!" A thuggish weasel yelled, exposing the team.

The other weasels, both thin and thick, attacked and chased Rad and Sam. Rad managed to keep some of the weasels at bay by using his shock rifle, but Sam shot fireworks, scaring the rest of the pursuers away.

"Good thinking, Sam!" Rad complimented as the last of the thugs dashed away from the fireworks.

"Thanks!" The cat responded, "Fire has frightened others since it's discovery, so I use it whenever I could to defend myself."

"Okay…" Rad said.

* * *

Back at the mansion, Rad and Sam reviewed the pictures and recording of the conversation between the Mugshots.

"Here's Connie and Blyde." Sam said, pushing the photograph to Belle.

The mouse examined the picture for a moment and placed the picture on the desk.

"Next."

Rad laughed a little before he showed the tape recorder.

"Here's the tape of them talking."

"That's good." Belle exclaimed.

"But there's isn't much." Rad added.

Belle shook her head and said, "Oh, well."

"Come on!" Sam eyed the mouse in a suspicious manner, "You 're up to something."

"It's to gather more information." The mouse replied.

"Tell, Belle." Rad said with a superior tone in his voice.

"Well…" Belle started.

* * *

"You've got to be kidding me." Luna said as she approached the building, wearing a skin-tight red dress.

"Quit complaining!" Belle said via communication device.

Luna groaned and accepted that this was for the good of the team and entered the building. In the lobby, there were weasels all over the place, smoking or playing cards.

"This is gonna be easier than I thought." Luna quietly mused to herself.

"Hey, going my way?"

Luna turned and saw a very big weasel.

"No thanks." The she-wolf quickly replied and went off until she was in the ladies restroom.

With a sigh, Luna was feeling less confident than she did when she came in.

"Boy, did I make a mistake."

Then, she heard footsteps and she hurried into a stall.

"What a day!" Connie said as she entered the restroom.

The dog looked under the stall doors, but Luna stood on top of the toilet to avoid being seen. Once seeing that she was alone, Connie pulled out her laptop from her large purse, placed it on a sink, and started it. Luna, fearing that she would be seen, stayed hidden, but she was listening for anything unusual.

"Connie, do you a good reason for contacting me?" A new female voice said with fury wrapped around it.

"We have a problem, boss." Connie reported, "Both Cooper teams are here."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Some of the boy in the inside the police offices have informed me and Blyde that Inspector and Constable Cooper are there. And just a small time ago, Rad and Sam were spotted by one of weasels."

Luna, having removed her high heel shoes, placed her feet on the floor and pressed her against the door to hear the conversation better.

"I want you to continue to do whatever you and your brother are doing."

"And the girl?" Connie inquired.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure that my sister's daughter is all right."

Luna heard this and said quietly, "'Sister's daughter?'"

"Who's there?!"

Luna covered her mouth at the realization of her talking out loud, which was about to expose her to Connie and the unknown leader of the Fiendish Claws!

"Get out of the stall now or I will shoot you out!" The she-dog yelled.

With no response from the stall, Connie went to her purse, grabbed her gun, and shot at the stall until the magazine ran out.

"Come out now." Connie growled as she grinned evilly.

The dog reached the torn stall door and pushed the door to reveal that no one was in the stall.

* * *

Luna was outside of the building, walking to the pick-up point. Her dress was torn from crawling through the air vent, but she was grateful to be alive, because she heard the gunshots to the bathroom stall. As she walked to the spot, she felt the feeling of being watched, and she did not like the feeling. Then, she reached the pick-up point, the feeling was stronger.

"Hey, babe."

Luna turned around and saw the weasel, who tried a pick-up line earlier, coming at her.

"I'm not in a good mood." The wolf growled, but the weasel was not going to leave.

"I can fix that." The weasel grinned lustfully.

Then, an opening door hit the weasel. The giant mammal fell to the ground as the car that hit him drove up to Luna.

"Madam, your ride awaits." Justin said, with a smile.

Luna, relieved at Justin's timing, said, "Thank you."

* * *

Back at the mansion, Luna was in her bedroom, changing out of the torn red dress and into a black T-shirt and blue jeans, while the rest of the gang was waiting for her report.

"What's taking her so long?" Belle asked impatiently.

"Wait just like the rest of us." Sam said, annoyed by the mouse's impatience.

"For what?" Luna asked, coming out of the bedroom.

"Finally!" Belle said at the sight of the wolf.

Rad intervened.

"Belle, give Luna some time before she could speak."

"Yeah," Luna agreed, "but if you want something to do, you can check the dress for bugs."

Belle was upset, but she knew that she could not help change the facts.

"Okay." The mouse answered before she inspected the dress.

After receiving some rest Luna was ready to talk.

"I heard some thing in the ladies' restroom." The white wolf started.

"_Connie, do you a good reason for contacting me?"_

"What?" Luna asked, hearing the voice.

"_We have a problem, boss. Both Cooper teams are here." _Connie's voice rang out.

Then, Mar revealed cassette tape in a cassette tape player playing.

"_Is that so?"_ The first voice said.

"But how…?" Luna asked, very confused about the whole thing.

"We hid a recording device on you." Rad admitted.

"And here it was!" Belle announced, holding the small, bug-like device with tweezers.

"Where did it…?" Luna asked, but she saw Sam give her a 'don't ask' look.

Seeing that the cat would not joke around when it came to matters that involved the words 'don't asked' or 'you don't wanna know,' she decided to heed Sam's warning and advice by saying, "Okay I wouldn't ask, but I will find out about it sooner or later. Remember that, Sam!" By saying that, all she really did was make Sam and the others laugh at her words.

"You don't have to worry." The cat said.

"Back to the recording, please." Mar said after stopping the player.

"'Kay." Sam and Luna said nearly in unison.

The group settled down while Mar started the tape again.

"_And the girl?" _

"_Don't worry about it. I'll make sure that my sister's daughter is all right."_

Sam stepped back with a loud gasp. Hearing this, Mar stopped the tape and looked at the cat along with the other members of the Cooper X Gang.

"What's wrong, Sam?" Rad asked, truly concerned about the cat.

"Yeah." Another voice rang into the room.

The gang turned to an open window and Sly Cooper.

"What are you doing here?" Luna demanded to know, since by rights, it was her home.

"Just checking up on you." Sly replied smoothly.

"Dad, do you recognize the voice?" Rad asked his father, seeing the worried look on Sly's face.

The elder raccoon's face turned grim as he answered, "Yes, all too well."

"What do you mean?" Belle asked.

Sly seemed to ignore the mouse and turned to Sam and said, "Ask Sam whose voice is on the tape."

Sam, however, looked like she had seen a ghost.

"Do you know?" Belle asked.

"I hope I don't." Sam answered fearfully.

"You better answer, so we know if you're right." Sly advised the cat.

"It sounds like the one who murdered my parents." Sam announced.

The others looked at each other, and then to Rad.

"All I know is that her parents were killed." The younger raccoon confessed to the others.

"By the wife's sister." Sly added with the grim expression on his face deepened.

"You mean Sam's aunt killed her parents?" Justin asked, starting to feel frightened, which is not a normal thing for Justin to feel, but it's not very often that an aunt would kill her own sister and brother-in-law and leave a poor orphan alone in the world.

"Yes." The elder raccoon answered.

"Who is it?" Luna asked, sensing Justin's uneasiness.

"Well, Sam's mother was from New Delhi, but by marrying an man from the United States, she became a citizen." Sly said cryptically.

"New Delhi?" Mar asked out loud.

"Isn't that the country that…?" Justin started to ask, but he stopped as he was about to say a name.

Sly was nervous himself, but he knew a question was due to be asked to Sam.

"Sam, do you remember your mother's name?"

Sam thought for a few seconds before she answered.

"Yes, her name was Neha."

"Neha Down was married to Nathan Down, a brown cat explorer." Sly explained, "A year later, they had a little buddle of joy."

"Sam!" Luna realized out loud.

"Right!" Sly confirmed, "For the next eight years, they lived very happily until one night Neha's twin sister came to pay an very unpleasant visit."

"Why pay a visit like that?" Belle asked, frightened, yet willing to listen.

"You see, the doctor believed that both twins were infertile, unable to reproduce children." Sly continued, "So, when one sister, who was condemned to be infertile, had a child, what would make the sister that is unable to give birth feel?"

"Outraged." Luna guessed.

"Right, Luna." Sly confirmed, "Especially if that twin was once called Clock-la."

"Clock-la!" Rad exclaimed.

Belle and Justin were shocked when they heard 'Clock-la.' Mar thought for a moment and spoke to Sly.

"Clock-la? But I thought Clock-la was gone."

"I thought she was gone too," Sly confessed, "but the only part of Clock-la that really died was Clockwerk."

Luna became very spooked and shouted, "Clockwerk!? He was one of the most dangerous creature in the world!"

"Yes, he died a one year before the Klaww Gang reassembled him, and Neyla used it to became Clock-la." Sly said, concerned.

"Neyla!?" Sam yelled at the group.

"You know the name?" Belle asked.

"That's my aunt's name," Sam replied, "and I'll NEVER FORGIVE THAT MONSTER!"

* * *

Next Chapter: Operation: Weed out the Mugs.


	15. Operation: Weed Out the Mugs

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Fourteen: Operation: Weed out the Mugs.

Austin, 6:00 a.m.

Rad was in the kitchen and still up hours after the discovery of the identity of the person responsible for murdering Sam's parents, Neyla, who was not only supposed to be dead, but also Sam's aunt. Rage grew in Rad as he thought of the horror Sam might have felt that her own blood relative was killing her parents all because she could not reproduce.

"Rad?"

The raccoon turned and was face-to-face with Sam.

"Sam? I didn't hear you…"

"Rad, turn on the TV."

"What?" Rad asked, confused at Sam's request.

"Just do it." The feline said to the raccoon.

"All right." Rad said, unsure about Sam's demanded, but he obeyed and turned on the television.

Once on, the television showed a pink flamingo as the newscaster.

_"On today's news, the wanted criminals Connie and Blyde were arrested this morning at five thirty by the Interpol detective, Carmelita Fox-Cooper with the help of her partner, Sly Cooper. The brother and sister gave no resistance when arrested. Rumors speak of the siblings being part of a underworld organization known as the Fiendish Klaws."_

Sam turned the television off, and turned to face a very surprised Rad Cooper.

"How did you know about…" Rad started to asked, when Sam finished his statement.

"Your dad called."

"My dad?" Rad asked in shock.

"Yeah." Sam said.

"Does…?"

"He wanted you to know, but he hasn't revealed that he has been in contact with us to your mom."

"Good." Rad said, breathing in relief.

"And also, your dad suggested that we leave as soon as he gives us some information." The feline added.

"What?" The raccoon asked.

"Yeah." Sam said, "One of the Mugshots is really an undercover cop for Interpol."

"Wow!" Justin exclaimed, directing Sam and Rad's attention to him.

"How long were you standing there?" The cat asked.

"Since he heard the TV was on." Rad said, joking and honest at the same time.

"Really?" The cat asked.

"Yeah." The husky laughed sheepishly.

"Hey, guys!" Luna shouted to the three in the kitchen.

"Shh!" Hissed the cat.

Luna was confused.

"You're being loud, Luna." Rad explained.

"So?" The white wolf asked.

"We don't want the cops to find us." Justin stated.

"Oh, yeah." Luna realized that it was not a good idea to yell.

"But I have a question, if you don't mind me asking, Luna." Rad said.

"Go ahead." Luna replied.

"Why did Belle suggest your mom's place?"

"I don't want to talk about that." Luna answered.

"But I can."

The group turned to see Belle and Mar in the doorway, where Justin stood a few moments ago.

"Hi, Belle." Rad greeted to the green-haired mouse. Then he turned his attention to the brown rat and said, "Mar."

"Rad." Mar replied, while Belle said, "Hi, guys."

Sam, Justin, and Luna greeted back to Belle as also greeted Mar.

"As I was saying," Belle said after the morning greetings, "Luna's mom's house is the best place for three reasons. One: Luna is a member of the Cooper X Gang, making this house a base. Two: Her mother is too loyal to Luna to betray her or us."

"And the third reason?" Sam asked.

"My mom doesn't watch the news." Luna answered, finishing Belle's list.

An awkward silence fell into the room for a few moments, until Rad broke is by saying, "That's a very strong possibility."

Then, the telephone rang, turning the attention to the answerer of the telephone, which was Luna's mother, Victoria.

"Hello?"

Rad went to the kitchen telephone, quickly pressed the receiver, and listened to the conversation.

_"Mrs. Lupinia-Lousteau, it's good to hear you."_

It was Neyla!

"Who is this!?" Victoria demanded, which was very different than when she spoke to him and his friends.

_"I have no reason to answer, but I do have a reason to call: tell Rad that if he wishes the safety of his parents or to himself, he will stay away from Samantha Down."_

SLAM! RING!

The slam from Neyla's end of the telephone connection caused great pain to Rad's ear

"Ow!"

"Are you all right?" Justin asked, seeing the pain on his friend's face.

"I'll live." Rad responded, rubbing his ear.

"Where did you hear?" Belle asked, anxious about the conversation.

"I heard that Neyla wants me to stay away from Sam." The raccoon said.

"WHAT!?"

The gang turned to Sam, whose face was twisted and red with pure hatred.

"That monster had, has, and will never have the right or the power to demand what I should do with my life!" The furious feline frowned as she spoke.

"Sam," Rad said, coming towards the upset cat, "I'm not going to do what Neyla says."

"What?" Sam asked; her fury receding upon hearing the heir of the Cooper thieving line's words.

"You're right; she doesn't. And I'm not going to listen to that threat." Rad said, "You're a very important person to me, as well as Belle, Justin, Luna, and Mar."

"Is that true?" Sam asked to the friends.

"Of course." Belle said, "You're smarter than I thought you were."

"I like ya, because you're very self-dependent." Justin said in respect to the cat.

"You're a good friend." Mar said, kindly smiling.

"And you're one of the few people I truly considered to be family." Luna said, trying to be tough.

"And you still have more where that comes from." Victoria said, turning the attention to her and her company, Sly and Carmeilta Cooper!

"Mom! Dad! What are you two doing here!?" Rad exclaimed, truly shocked to see his parents.

"We came here for some news about Neyla." Sly said.

"Blyde told us about a call to this house, but you beat us to the other phone." Carmeilta said, somewhat blushing.

"Blyde!?" The group asked the fox.

"Yeah." Sly said, "He might not be 'book smart,' but he's smart enough to know that he doesn't want to go to jail."

"That's true…" Belle thought loudly.

"But he told us about Neyla's call." Carmelita said.

"But you two were late." Sam said.

"Yeah." Carmelita admitted.

"But we have a plan." Sly announced.

"What is it?" Justin asked bluntly.

"And what does it involve us?" Luna added.

"Yes, it does." Sly said with a grin to Luna.

"The plan." Mar reminded the elder raccoon.

"Of course." The fox nudged her husband.

"All right!" Sly said, "The plan is to capture Neyla."

That statement caught the gang's attention quickly, but Sam was the fastest.

"How?" The feline asked the law enforcers.

"It'll require for the gang to separate for a while." Sly explained, "It is so we can get the old Cooper Gang together to stop Neyla."

"Is that a good idea?" Sam asked Rad.

"Of course," The younger Cooper replied, "my dad's gang was the best."

"And in the Cooper gangs, teamwork is the most powerful tool we have." Justin added.

"That's how Clockwerk was defeated." Belle said with a proud look on her face.

"Sounds good." Sam said with a calm look on her face.

"It is." Sly said before resuming the explanation of the plan.

"Each one of you will go to the member of the old Cooper Gang that you know, and then, which is a month later, we'll meet up at San Francisco to begin the plan."

"That sounds like a plan." Justin said.

"But the rest of it will be explained at San Francisco." Carmelita added.

"How or where do we profit from this?" Luna asked, "I'm pretty sure we will not be paid in cash."

"You got it." Sly confirmed.

"But we're willing to give you six a clean slate, if you help." The vixen said, reminding the gang that they were still criminals.

"That's a deal." Mar said, silently hoping that it is true due to his parents' possible outrage.

"How's that?" Belle said.

"His parents are very strict, despite not being there for most of the time." Luna answered for Mar.

"Good point." Justin said.

"Yeah." Rad agreed.

"Now, here's the question: Are you guys in?" Sly asked.

The room fell silent.

"I understand." Carmelita said, "We'll let you guys think about it."

Then, the Coopers exited the room.

* * *

3:00 p.m.

Sam was in her room, sitting by the window, when Rad entered her room.

"Hi, Rad." The cat greeted without turning her attention away the window.

"Hi, Sam." The raccoon responded, a little surprised at his teammate's lack of response, "What's wrong?"

"Don't you remember?" Sam replied, still looking out the window.

"Sorry," Rad said, "I thought you were thinking of something else."

"That's okay." The cat said, finally turning to Rad with a bittersweet smile.

The heir of the Cooper clan saw the cat's red eyes and said, "You've been crying."

"Yeah."

Rad pulled out a neckerchief out of his pocket and gave it to Sam, who took it with grateful carefulness and blew her nose in it.

"Thanks."

"Not a problem, Sam." Rad smiled, but he was still worried about the feline.

"Is your mind on the offer still?" The cat asked, returning to the window.

"Yeah." The raccoon admitted.

"What's your decision?" Sam asked.

"Only if you tell me yours." Rad grinned.

Sam looked back at the raccoon; her smile vanished from her face.

"I don't know."

Rad's face exposed his great concern, causing him to ask.

"Why?"

Sam tried to explain, but she could not stop herself from crying.

"I don't…"

"What, Sam?" Rad asked, trying to figure out Sam's source of sadness.

Then, Sam quickly lunged to Rad's chest and went into tears.

"Sam?" Rad asked.

"I don't want to lose you!" Sam cried into Rad's blue shirt.

"You're not." Rad responded, "We're just going to be apart for a while."

"But I'm scared!"

"Of your aunt?" Rad said, feeling outraged at Neyla for turning her niece into an orphan.

"I have no aunt!" Sam said, still having her face in Rad's shirt.

"I meant…that monster." Rad replied, knowing Sam's hatred of Neyla.

"Yes."

"Then, I will not leave you." Rad said.

The cat looked at the raccoon face-to-face.

"What?"

"You don't want to be alone, and I don't…"

Rad stopped himself, because he realized that he was uncomfortable telling his feelings about Sam to Sam!

"What?" Sam mewed at Rad.

"I don't want you to feel that way." The Cooper said, thinking quickly.

"Really?" The feline asked, somewhat not convinced about Rad's words.

"Sure."

Sam turned from Rad quickly.

"What's wrong, Sam?"

"That's not what you were going to say!" The cat accused.

"But I did say the truth." Rad countered.

"But why did you chance your mind?" Sam asked, "I'm weird, strange, or worse?"

"NO!" Rad responded loudly, and then he cleared his throat and calmed himself before speaking again, "No, I like you very much; it's just a little hard for me to admit them."

"Them?" Sam asked.

"My…feelings."

"Well, Rad," admitted the feline, "I have feelings for you too."

Rad looked down to his feet, slightly blushing as Sam embraced him, giving the raccoon a small surprise. He returned the hug, and he held on few a few minutes.

* * *

4:00 p.m.

Rad entered the living room, where his parents were at talking to Victoria, Luna's mother. He looked around and saw the others with the exception of Sam, who was still in her room, waiting for him and Sam.

"Hi!" The raccoon greeted.

"Hey, Rad." Sly said, looking for Sam, "Where's your girlfriend?"

"Dad!" Rad rolled his eyes, "She's not my girlfriend."

"Not yet." Justin whispered to Belle.

"I heard that." Rad announced, startling the husky, while the others laughed.

"That's my boy!" Sly smiled.

Rad stretched the back of his head in embarrassment, before he asked his parents a question.

"Mom, Dad, can I talk to you two?"

"What is it, Conrad?" Carmelita asked, concerned about her son.

"Conrad?" Luna asked before she started laughing loudly with Mar.

"Yes," Rad growled at the white wolf and the brown rat, "my real name is Conrad. Blame my parents, not me."

"Sure, Conrad." Mar laughed.

"Left him alone!" Belle yelled.

"Give Rad a break!" Justin agreed with the mouse.

Rad walked to his parents, choosing to ignore the laughing duo.

"What's on your mind?" The vixen asked her child.

"It's something." Rad muttered.

"Is it Sam?" Sly grinned the Cooper smile.

"Yeah." Rad replied meekly.

Carmelita looked at her husband in confusion.

"Don't worry, Rad," Sly said, seeing his wife's concern on her face, "we'll understand."

"And you two won't take it the wrong way?" Rad asked.

"Of course, we won't!" The vixen announced loudly.

"At least not to your face." Sly added, earning a death glare from Carmelita.

Rad smiled a little, knowing what his father was up to, but Rad needed his father to be serious at that time.

"Sam wants one of us to stay with her."

The room fell silent…for a second.

"WHAT!" Belle and Justin was the first to voice their thought about Sam's thought.

"Not a chance!" Carmelita yelled at her son.

Sly, Mar, and Luna were quiet and seemed to not surprised of Rad's words.

"Carmelita, please calm down." Sly said to his wife, whose fury could be mistaken for a dragon's fiery breath.

"How can I?!" The fox roared.

Sly tried to speak, "If Rad said not to take something the wrong way…" but Carmelita stopped him by saying, "I know what he's going to say: 'And I was thinking that I would go with her.' Right?"

Rad rolled his eyes and said, "No."

"Then, what?" The vixen asked.

"It's just to keep Sam safe." Rad replied.

"It's true." Luna stepped into the conversation.

"She's always had that for a while." Mar agreed.

"You're kidding, right?" Carmelita asked the rat.

"No ma'am." Mar replied, "I'm not."

"You better explain." Belle said, while Justin nodded in agreement.

"Well, Sam has been alone before I met her." Mar explained, "Of course, with the exception of the Panda King and his daughter and son-in-law."

"The Panda King!?" Sly asked, surprised at Mar's words.

"Yeah." Luna said, "Mar and I knew about that for a little while, but we thought we would allow it to be her business."

"Okay…" Sly said, very unsure.

"Sly," Carmelita said, "Maybe it would be a good idea for someone to be with Sam."

Sly was shocked, but realized that what his wife said.

"As long as it's not Rad."

The vixen froze, but she did make a comment.

"That's what I prefer."

"But Sam has shown a fondness towards Rad." Belle admitted, hiding her fury.

"Really?" Sly said, impressed.

"It's nothing like that, Dad!" Rad said, knowing his father's thoughts.

"But it's enough to cause suspicion." Carmelita said.

"Ha ha." Sam said, entering the room.

"Hi, Sam." Sly said, in a teasing tone of voice.

"Hello, Sly." The cat greeted kindly, but when she saw Carmelita, she said, "Mrs. Cooper."

"Miss Down." The inspector replied.

"Mom, Sam, be nice." Rad said, feeling like he was playing the referee to the 'war' between his mother and his co-worker.

"Why should I?" The fox asked, sticking her nose in the air.

Rad tried to answer, but Sam was the faster of the two to answer.

"If you want my help, you should."

Belle 'coughed' the word 'burn', knowing that Sam was right, while the others laughed or giggled at the fox.

"You know, I didn't have to come to you." Carmelita pointed out, which was countered by Sam, who said, "Yet, you did. So, don't get mad at me."

The inspector glared at Sam, who stuck out her tongue at her.

"Watch it; I'm feeling that it's going to be worth the charge of police brutality, if I fight you, right now." The vixen said in a warning tone.

"Oh, like I'm scared." The feline taunted.

"Enough!" Rad yelled, "You two are acting really childish today."

"And here's the scaring part: I agree with Rad." Sly added.

"And we agree too." Luna said, while the others nodded in agreement.

"Okay." Sam complained, "We being really babyish."

"Agreed." Carmelita said, also tried of hearing the others' agreements.

"Now, back to business." Sly said.

"Yeah," agreed Rad, "Who's going to stay with Sam?"

"Not Rad." The vixen spoke out quickly and loudly.

"Not much chance of that." Sly pointed out.

"What was that?" The fox asked.

"Well," stated Sly, "It's not just your choice."

"That's right." Belle agreed.

"Yeah, Mrs. Cooper," said Justin, "most of us have families outside of the Cooper X Gang that were a part of the last Cooper Gang, while Sam doesn't, despite the fact that she's close to the Panda King's family."

"Yeah." Luna said, "I have my dad, and so does Rad and Justin, Belle has both parents, and Mar even has a father figure. Sam has no one."

"I prefer that Sam would stay with one of us, but she truly believes that she's alone without us." Mar stated.

Carmelita looked at Sam, who was looking at her own feet with a sad look on her face.

"I'm truly sorry, Sam." The fox humbled herself to the cat, "I thought you had something else in your mind."

"Like what?" Sam asked, truly clueless about what Carmelita was talking about.

Sly laughed out loud, but only after seeing his wife's confused face.

"Sam, you're telling us you don't know?" Rad asked, just as shocked as his mother.

"Yeah." The feline replied bluntly.

The others laughed loudly as an owl watched them, as well as the camera it had.

* * *

Somewhere else, a dark figure watched the events as her enemies talked to each other.

"Who would have guessed that Blyde would be the one to betray me. Oh, well, they did their job." A female voice spoke out.

Then, the figure pressed a button, which zoomed in on Sam.

"Well, Neyla," The figure spoke, "Your niece is as good as caught."

* * *

Next Chapter: The Big Plan.


	16. The Plan

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Fifteen: Operation: The Big Plan.

San Francisco

On the first day, Jing King, or Mrs. Wong, met the duo at the airport, mainly because her father, the Panda King was still a wanted criminal due to his extreme crimes, including his involvement of the murders of the Coopers. She told Rad and Sam that she, her husband, or her father could bring food to the Warren estate at any time.

Rad thanked Jing King with the grace of his ancestors, while Sam gave a shy 'thank you'.

The weeks rolled by slowly and both the raccoon and the cat started to become very tried of eating Chinese food.

* * *

Rad was reading the Thievius Raccoonus, while Sam looked out of the window. The two had been staying in Mar's house for almost four weeks, doing nothing, but worrying about any problems from the possible leader of the Fiendish Klaws.

Rad closed the heirloom and got up to his feet, stretching his stiff body.

"Sam, you want something?" The raccoon asked the cat.

Sam turned her head to Rad's direction, revealing to Rad that the feline had being crying.

"Sam, you're crying again." Rad said, pulling a neckerchief out of his pocket, and giving it to Sam.

"Thanks." The feline said, accepting the neckerchief for the fifteenth time within one and a half fortnights.

"Scared?" Rad asked.

"Terrified." Sam replied; her body started to shake.

"Sam," Rad said, noticing his co-worker's body.

"I'm just hungry." The feline replied, calming Rad a little.

"All right." Rad said. Then, he asked, "Chinese?"

"No." Sam replied flat out.

Rad laughed at Sam's reaction before he said, "I was joking; I'm getting pretty sick of Chinese food too."

"How about pizza?" The feline asked, causing a grin on the raccoon's face.

"Good idea." Rad said. Then, he thought for a moment and asked Sam, "Won't Mrs. Wong be upset?"

"No."

"Well, I hope you're right." The raccoon joked.

Sam giggled as Rad left the room. Once he was out of the room, Sam got up and walked to the mirror in the sitting room, sat down, and closed her eyes.

* * *

When she opened her eyes she was no longer in the sitting room, but in her own mind. As she looked on, she saw a great fire and a figure, which was like her form. She made her way to the figure, which turned around to face her. Sam knew this form very well, for it was her darker side which was made of all of the emotions Sam had hidden from the others of her life; she believed that her hidden emotions have made up the creature that was in Sam's mind for years.

"It's being a while." Sam said to her mental counterpart.

"_It has," _The dark side replied, _"if you call almost a month a while."_

Sam wasn't going give in to her dark side so easily.

"Sam, I know what you are doing, and I'm going to tell you right now: it's not going to work."

"I have to try," Sam replied, "I need to lighten my heart for the journey I must go on."

The dark side laughed, as if Sam had told a joke.

"Sam, you should be a comedian."

"I'm being serious."

"Then, you have a career."

Sam growled at her dark side as the flame behind the dark side flared up, which the dark side noticed.

"You're angry." The dark side said, turning to the flame, "It's good to see that you're still in touch with your emotions."

"You don't frighten me." Sam said.

"I know."

Then, the dark side turned to Sam again.

"_So, you wish me gone for a while." _The dark side mused, _"A lot of good that is going to do you."_

"It should!" Sam replied, "I've carried you for years."

"No, you haven't carried me; you've carried yourself."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked her dark side.

"Your trust."

"My trust?" Sam repeated.

"_Come up here." _The dark side motioned the cat to come near the fire.

Sam obeyed, coming closer to the flame.

"Look into the fire."

The cat looked into the fire, seeing herself as a lost nine-year-old.

"What's going on?"

"Your past."

Sam saw her past, when the Panda King rescued her, when Mar rescued her from prostitution drivers, and when Luna allowed her to stay with her in an apartment. The cat saw her life change with the arrival of Rad, Justin, and Belle in the formation of the Cooper X Gang. She turned to her dark side and asked, "What is this about?"

"_Your trust." _The dark side replied, _"The one thing that truly made my form. You have hidden trust in yourself for years, ever since Neyla murdered your parents. Then, bit-by-bit, you started trusting others again. You see, I'm not your evil side, I'm your trust and love for others." _

The dark side started to disappear, shocking Sam greatly.

"What's happening?"

"I may no longer have this form, but I'll always be with you, whether you like it or not."

Then, the form of trust and love disappeared, leaving a few glimmers of light, which flew into Sam.

* * *

The cat opened her eyes, which were filled with tears.

"Sam?" Rad's voice rang into the cat's ears.

"Yeah?" The feline responded, drying the tears out of her eyes.

"Pizza's here!" Rad announced as he entered the sitting room.

That, to Sam, was good news.

"Thanks, Rad." Sam said, taking a slice of pizza that was offered to her.

* * *

In the next week, the Cooper X Gang and the old Cooper Gang plus Carmelita were in the same house talking about the plan.

"So, where's Neyla?" Bentley, the turtle asked.

"Well, it took us a while, but we found in a very strange place." Sly said, very concerned.

"Where is it, Dad?" Rad asked his father.

"Paris." Carmelita answered.

"Paris?" Belle exclaimed in shocked.

"As in our hometown?" Justin asked, also shocked.

"In France?" Rad asked as well.

"I'm afraid so." Sly replied.

"Oh, my!" Luna said, shaking her head.

"You can say that again." Mar agreed.

"This is most troubling." The Panda King said, seeing the troubling look on Rad, Belle, and Justin's faces.

"What's the plan?" Sam asked Sly and Carmelita.

"Are you sure?" Carmelita asked.

"Yeah," Sly agreed, "are you sure that you're ready to face Neyla?"

"Of course, I am." The cat replied with a true smile, "As long as I'm with the Cooper X Gang."

Seeing this, The Coopers looked at each other, hoping for answers, but they smiled, seeing the change in Sam as a good thing.

"Here's the plan." Carmelita started.

* * *

Next chapter: The Paris Plan


	17. The Big Plan in Paris

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Sixteen: The Big Plan in Paris.

Paris, France, 9:00 p.m.

"So, that's the Eiffel Tower." Sam said, looking up at the structure.

"Yeah," Rad replied, "honey."

Sam frowned at Rad, who was dressed up in a white baseball jersey, blue pants, red tennis shoes, and a blue cap with the bill of the hat to the side.

"Now, Sam, you agreed to this." Rad reminded the cat, who wore a pink skirt that went to her knees, a white formal shirt that looked like it had an ascot on top of it, pink shoes with high heels, a golden bracelet, and a pink purse.

"Don't remind me." The furious feline growled at the raccoon.

Rad just said, "Don't bite off my head about this."

The couple continued to walk to the tower, when a very strange thing happened: a group of bats flew at Rad and Sam. The duo saw this and jumped out of the way as the bats flew down the street, causing chaos for the people on the street.

"That was weird." Sam said.

"Very weird." Rad agreed.

"So, you think." A British voice spoke out.

The duo turned around and saw Neyla, wearing a gothic version of she wore when she was in the K.L.A.W. Gang, and looking like she had not aged a day since her defeat to the Cooper Gang twenty-one years ago!

"You!" Sam growled as her fur stood up.

Rad just glared at the magenta tigress before he grinned and spoke.

"Looks like time wasn't to kind with you, Neyla."

"You don't fool me, Conrad Cooper." Neyla replied with an evil smile appearing on her face, "It was a good try, but I know that you're weaker than your father."

"Funny, Neyla," Rad replied, "Clockwerk said the same thing to my dad, and that owl was destroyed."

Neyla glared at the Cooper, while Sam shot a firework at the tigress.

"This is for my parents!" Sam said as the firework hit Neyla.

The firework burst into flames and engulfed Neyla in a coffin of fire.

"Bull's eye!" Belle yelled, running to Sam and Rad.

The others, Justin, Luna, and Mar, ran up from behind Belle.

"Good to see you guys." Rad said with a smile.

"Don't get happy yet." Sam announced to the group.

"What do ya mean?" Justin asked.

"She's still alive." The cat said, glaring into the fire.

Then, a loud, high-pitched scream rang from the fire.

"What was that?" Mar yelled in fright.

"Neyla's still alive?" Justin asked.

Then, a pair of night black wings flew out of the flames and flapped, causing the flames to be blown out. Where the flame stood was the virtually unharmed Neyla, who flapped her wings and said coyly, "Was that suppose to hurt me?" Then, she laughed out loud and coldly at the group.

"Nope." Sam replied while grinning shyly, "That was a signal."

"What?" Neyla asked, confused.

Then, a series of fireworks, shots, and arrows fired at the bat-winged tigress, who dodged and flew away from the projectiles.

"Here I came!" Neyla roared.

Then, she grabbed Sam and flew off into the night.

"Sam!" Rad yelled, trying to chase Neyla to rescue Sam.

Rad climbed up a building and started running after Neyla, but a group of bats flew at the young raccoon, and Rad was pushed off the building. Rad was lucky that his father, despite his age, was as quick and flexible as he was when he was Rad's age; Sly caught Rad before Rad fell to the ground.

"Whew!" Rad sighed as his father placed him back to the ground.

"You can say that again." Sly agreed.

Once on the ground, Rad was embraced by Carmelita.

"I'm so happy that you're safe!" The mother of Conrad Cooper wept as she held her son very tightly.

"Mom!" Rad reacted through embarrassment.

"What about Sam?" Belle pointed out.

"Don't worry." Penelope said, coming to her daughter's side, "Your father's got that covered."

"How?" Luna asked, while her father nodded in agreement.

Bentley replied to the group by saying, "I can track Sam through my binocucom."

* * *

At least an hour later after being kidnapped, Sam opened her eyes.

"What happened?"

The cat took a good look at the room that she was in and saw the room was dimly lit by candlelight. She could hardly tell what items were in the room.

"What a strange place…" The cat said to herself.

Sam saw a door and opened it, which confused her greatly.

"Why would someone forget to lock the door, if they didn't want me to leave?"

Sam saw this as a chance to escape. So, she exited the room and entered a gigantic hallway.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed at the hall before she reminded herself that she needed to escape.

A few minutes later, Sam found herself in a dining hall, which was beautifully decorated in gold and jewels.

"Whoa!" Sam exclaimed under her breath, "Mar's place don't hold a candle to this place."

She slowly turned around, but she bumped into a tall, dark figure.

"Aw, crud!" The cat mewed meekly.

"Finally, you are awake." The figure spoke.

Sam looked up at the person she bumped into and saw a tall wolf with night-black fur and white hair. The wolf's attire was of a nobleman, although it was mainly black and red where the white should be.

"Come on." The wolf said, trying to push her to the table, "It is time for dinner."

"I'm not eatin'!" Sam countered, "You know Neyla, and that makes you my enemy! So I don't trust ya."

The wolf just laughed; it sounded heartless and cold, which caused Sam to shiver.

"Do not be so coy."

"Who's trying to be coy?" The fiery feline asked.

The wolf laughed heartlessly again before he spoke again.

"Quite the fire you have."

"Try living by yourself for a few years." The cat growled.

"I have." The wolf countered, grabbing Sam's arm harshly.

Sam struggled, but she could not escape from the powerful grip.

"Let go!" The cat demanded.

"You will not leave this castle." The wolf calmly said.

"Wanna bet?" Sam growled at the nobleman.

It only made the wolf laugh again.

"I'll personally make sure of that."

Then, the wolf's fire-red eyes glowed, and Sam looked into them, losing all resistance to the wolf and fell limp. The wolf's face went to the cat's neck.

"Baron?" Neyla's voice rang out to the wolf, whose mouth sharply backed away from Sam throat.

"What is it, Neyla?"

Neyla appeared from the darkness, saw the baron holding Sam, and asked with a cruel smile, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No." Baron replied, pinking up the limp cat, "Did you have something to tell me?"

"Yes," said the tigress, "The Cooper Gangs are at the outskirts of Paris and heading to the castle."

"Then, let them in." The baron said, grinning evilly.

Neyla bowed and started to return to the darkness.

"Good riddance." The wolf said before he looked at Sam, "Too bad, she won't be at the wedding."

* * *

The outskirts of Paris, 10:50 p.m.

The team arrived at the castle walls.

"What a creepy place." Belle exclaimed after the castle, which looked like something out of a horror film.

"Yeah." Justin agreed, staring himself not to run away.

"Big time." Luna confirmed.

"Good thing, Bentley placed a tracking device on Sam." Rad announced.

"And good thing the Guru and Mar were able to get us through that crazy mist." Sly added.

"You rock, Master!" Murry yelled.

Carmelita shushed the hippo.

"Quiet!"

Murry quickly covered his mouth with hands.

"Now, what is the plan?" The Panda King asked Rad.

"Well…" Rad started.

* * *

Neyla was on the castle wall, looking out for the Cooper Gang.

"What's taking them so long?" The tigress asked herself; she had wanted for twenty-one years to get her revenge on the Cooper Gang for her defeat.

Then, a firework flew at her from her right. Neyla grinned evilly as she dodged the projectile.

"You're mine!" Neyla announced as her bat-like wings appeared.

Then, she flew off to the direction where the firework flew from to kill the Cooper Gang, but she was so overwhelmed with the thought of revenge that she failed to see that was a distraction.

* * *

Rad and Sly quickly climbed the wall and ran into the castle. Once inside, the father and son team rested for a bit, because they had to rush do to Neyla's new powers, which were like a vampire's powers, according to Bentley.

"That was close." Rad wiped his brow.

"No kidding." Sly agreed.

Then, a strange cold wind blew at the father and son team.

"What was that, Dad?" Rad asked.

"I don't know…" Sly replied, seemingly familiar to the coldness of the wind, "but it's like being in an iceberg."

* * *

Sam woke up again back in the same room as before.

"Man, what a weird way to get back here."

Sam went to the door and tried to open the door, but it was locked this time.

"Great!" Sam exclaimed, "I can't escape!"

Then, she recalled what the black wolf said about making sure that she didn't escape.

"That guy can keep a promise." Sam said, very surprised.

Then, she searched her person for her items, and then she looked in her purse that she forgot the first time, but it was empty.

"Man!" The cat exclaimed, "They move quick."

Then, the door opened, grabbing Sam's attention and revealing the wolf, holding a black garment in his hands.

"You again?" Sam rudely exclaimed upon seeing the wolf.

"Why must you be so rude, Samantha?" The nobleman asked Sam.

Sam did not flinch when the wolf said her name; she thought that he was helping Neyla, but this gave her an idea.

"Since you know my name, what's yours?"

The wolf smugly smiled.

"Do not think that I do not know what you are up to, but I will humor you"

"What do ya mean?" Sam asked, becoming very uneasy about the wolf.

"I am the Baron Lubos, and I will be the groom of the wedding."

"What the…?" The confused cat asked before she realized what was going on: The wedding was from the baron and Sam!

* * *

Meanwhile, Sly and Rad found themselves at the dining hall.

"Whoa!" Rad exclaimed, "Mar is going to flip, if he saw this."

"Yeah," Sly agreed, "as well as the others."

Rad looked around to for a clue, when he saw something.

"It's Sam's bracelet!"

Sly looked at his son as Rad ran to the jewelry.

"Well, we already knew that Sam was here." Sly said.

"Yeah," Rad agreed as he picked up the bracelet. Then, he added, "but she could be in real trouble."

"I think you're right." Rad's father agreed, and then the elder raccoon pulled out his binocucom, and called Bentley.

"Hey pal, can you see this?"

"_Of course." _The turtle replied, but the others also saw this.

"_Wow, the architect must have done overtime to finish the details correctly." _Carmelita said.

"Carmelita!" Sly exclaimed, "Get off the line!"

"_What was that?" _Sly's wife asked in an annoyed voice.

"Nothing." Sly retreated verbally.

"_Sly." _Bentley returned to the line.

"Bentley!" Sly rejoiced quietly. Then, he asked, "Where's Carmelita?"

"_She's talking to a dead line." _Bentley laughed mischievously.

"_I heard that!" _The vixen yelled as her husband as heard her was as the others.

* * *

The echo of the fox's yell reached Neyla's ears.

"I've been tricked!" The tigress roared. Then, she flew off to the castle to get her revenge.

* * *

Baron Lubos and Sam heard the yell as well.

"Not another rescue team." The wolf exasperated upon hearing the yell as if it was another unimportant thing and started to rub his eyes.

Sam, seeing this as an opportunity to escape, removed her high-heel shoes, remove the tips of the heels, which hid very sharp knives by Sam's request to Belle, and threw them at the Baron, who was hit in the eyes. As the baron howled in pain, the cat made her escape out of the room.

"Made it!" The cat said.

Then, an awful roar rang out to everywhere in and out of the castle.

* * *

Carmelita was yelling at Bentley.

"You little-!"

The roar entered the ears of the group.

"What was that!" Luna asked in shock.

"I don't know!" Mar said.

"I don't wanna know." Justin announced.

"I don't wanna ask!" Belle agreed.

* * *

In the dining hall, the raccoons heard the roar as well.

"What was that?" Rad asked his father.

"I don't know," Sly replied, "but it sounded like it was in pain."

Then, Sam appeared into Rad's sight.

"Sam!" Rad exclaimed.

"Run!" The cat dashed passed the Coopers, but Sly grabbed her by the arm.

"What's going on?" Sly asked Sam.

"No time!" Sam yelled.

Then, another roar was heard; this one was in fury.

"What was that?" Rad asked.

"I don't want to find out, although I have a good idea who." The cat answered.

"Who!" Rad exclaimed.

Then, a third roar came, and it was closer to the trio.

"I think we should listen to the lady." Sly announced.

"Let's get outta here!" Rad agreed.

The three of them started running as fast as they could, which were very fast. By the time they reached the outside of the castle, a fourth roar rang out, which was even closer.

"That's bad!" Rad said.

"You can say that again." Sly agreed.

"And it's going to get worse." Neyla's voice rang out.

The trio saw the flying tigress as they heard the fifth roar.

"Today's not a good day." Sam groaned.

Then, a giant black wolf-like creature with black bat-like wings appeared behind the raccoons and cat, whose attention was quickly turned to the creature.

"Oh boy!" The raccoons said in unison.

Neyla started yelling to the creature.

"Master, they are plotting against you!"

"What!" Sly exclaimed upon hearing the accusation.

"I believe that you are right about a plot, but not about the Coopers…" The creature spoke in a deep and dark voice. Then, a long spike that looked like a spider's leg came out of one of the wings and stabbed Neyla in the chest.

"What…is…this…!" Neyla asked, gasping between words.

"For the attempted treason against me, you are sentenced to death." The creature replied, before twisting the spike in Neyla's chest, causing the tigress to went out one last scream before she turned into dust.

"Whoa!" Sly Rad, and Sam mewed before turning to the creature.

The giant winged wolf looked at the Coopers and Sam and said in strangely content voice, "The enemy is now gone."

"Huh?" The trio asked.

The creature changed its form to the white haired black wolf that was Baron Lubos.

"You!" Sam hissed at the sight of the wolf.

"Do not worry about me anymore, Miss Down." The baron said, "Besides, it was you who hit me in the eyes."

Sam felt no shame of what she did, and replied, "You're the one with the plan to marry me!"

"I do have a bit of explaining to do." The wolf mused to himself. Then, he turned to the Coopers and said, "You two may summon your friends; I have dinner prepared."

Then, the wolf walked off into the castle, leaving Rad, Sly, and Sam very confused.

* * *

Next Chapter: The Truth


	18. The Truth

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

* * *

Chapter Seventeen: The Truth.

On the outskirts of Paris, France, midnight.

The members of the Sly Cooper Gang and the Cooper X Gang were sitting down at the dining hall, enjoying a wonderful midnight dinner.

"Amazing craftsmanship." Penelope examined the dining hall.

"It's truly a work of art." Belle agreed with her mother.

"The smart ladies are right on the money." Dimitri flirted, embarrassing his daughter.

"Dad…" Luna groaned.

The Guru and Mar agreed quietly with Luna, while Justin rolled his eyes, despite that Luna was Dimitri's daughter.

"What's going on?" Murry asked Bentley.

"I wouldn't ask." The turtle replied.

Carmelita sat down at one of the chairs with Sam, Sly and Rad.

"Can you believe this?" The vixen asked her family and her son's co-worker.

"Hardly." Sam groaned.

Sly nudged his son in the side.

"How much money do you think this would cost?"

Rad grinned as he answered his father's question.

"Enough to bankrupt Mar's family."

"I heard that, Rad!" The rat announced, causing most of the group to laugh.

Sam did not laugh; she was too distorted to laugh.

"Sam?" The Panda King asked, "What ails you?"

"Everything that's happened tonight."

"It is difficult to see the happiness in this castle, but I believe that Rad is trying to make you smile." The Panda King said, somewhat showing Sam of the Cooper heir's jokes, "I believe he cares deeply for you, and would not try to make you uncomfortable. At least, that is what I think."

Sam looked at Rad, who made another joke of Mar's life style, which made most of the two Cooper gangs laugh.

"I think I see your point." The cat announced to her mentor.

Then, a thud was heard.

"Let me guess." Sly was the first to speak.

He turned and saw Baron Lubos sitting at the chair at the end of the table.

"Him!" Sam growled lowly.

The dark wolf closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Miss Down," said the baron, "I'm truly sorry about your parents; if I knew that would had happened, I would have never converted Neyla."

"Converted?" Sam asked, turning to Rad, who answered.

"Changed."

"That is right." Lubos confirmed.

"So you're a vampire?" Bentley asked, shaking nervously.

"In a sense." The baron said, "I'm not completely bloodthirsty, but I do need it for surviving the outside world."

"You joking, right?" Belle asked.

"I can survive sunlight, having a stake in my heart, fire, and all natural disasters." Lubos said, "I can climb walls, use the darkness to my will, and lived longer than most others. So, I am a vampire, just not an evil one."

"Not evil?" Justin asked.

"I was born like this." Lubos confessed, "I'm a thousand years of age."

"That's old!" Luna commented quietly to her father as he agreed by nodding his head.

"I heard that." The baron said, surprising the white wolf and the purple reptile.

"Oh, boy." Justin meekly said.

"Yeah." Murry and Bentley agreed with the young husky.

"Well!" Carmelita spoke out at last, but she never finished want she had on her mind, because Lubos interrupted her.

"I will explain why I turned Neyla into a 'vampire'."

"This oughta be good." Sam muttered loudly.

Lubos heard that, but ignored the cat and told his story.

"It started twenty-one years ago…"

* * *

_It was the night after Neyla's defeat, when Lubos was on a stroll on the castle walls under the moonlight. The wolf was enjoying his quiet night when a scent entered his nose._

_"Blood?"_

_

* * *

Meanwhile, a badly wounded Neyla crawled by her hands and knees. She had collapsed to the ground when a shadow covered her bleeding body._

_"Do you need some help?"_

_The tigress looked up at the wolf. She tried to ask for help, but she fainted before she could say a word._

* * *

"So, I took her to my castle to heal her wounds." Lubos said, knowing the questions that were going to be asked.

"By biting her?" Rad asked.

"No, young Cooper," announced the baron, "the fashion way: rest and care."

"How long did that last?" Sam asked with harsh eyes glaring at the black wolf.

"A week, at most." Lubos answered, "You see, I get blood from blood banks, which are most useful to people, like myself."

* * *

_It had been a week since Lubos rescued Neyla from death, and Neyla had rested in a feather bed._

_"So, you were left to die." Lubos concluded after Neyla told her story, which was about her being beaten to death by a gang of thieves._

_"Yes." The tigress replied weakly._

_The baron thought for a few moments before he spoke again._

_"I have a way for you to live for a little longer than you could have thought about living."_

_Neyla's ears perked up when she heard this._

_"Really?"_

_Lubos saw the gleam in Neyla's green eyes as he answered._

_"Yes, but I will tell you as soon as you well enough to make a decision."_

_"All right." Neyla said, knowing that she was far too weak to even get out of bed._

* * *

"So, you gave the choice." Carmelita stood up, almost outraged, which was heard in her voice.

"Yes." Lubos answered, closing his eyes in shame, "Only when she was well enough, and I believed that I could change her."

"Fat chance." Sam muttered in her breath.

"I have to agree with you, Sam." The baron said, still keeping his eyes closed, "If I had known what would have happened, I would not have not changed her, and she would have been dismissed the moment she was well enough to travel."

"Really?" The Panda King spoke next.

Lubos nodded, saying 'yes' to the Panda King.

"I don't believe you!" Sam stood up and slammed her fists onto the table, "You claimed to have tried to change that monster, which was also my mother's sister, yet you failed!"

Lubos did not answer, but knew what Sam spoke about: the night of her parents' deaths.

"Sam…" Rad whispered as he saw that fury and hatred in the cat's eyes.

Lubos heard this and sighed deeply before he spoke again.

"I understand your fury, but there is something else that you do not know."

"And that would be?"

"It's about that night." The black wolf replied.

"What do you mean?" Sly and Rad asked in unison.

"It was nine years later, when Sam's mother and father were murdered." Lubos announced.

* * *

_A house was engulfed in flames with a dark, bat-like silhouette flew away from house the blazing house, while on the ground Lubos saw the silhouette._

_"Neyla!" The baron growled under his breath, then a loud cry broke into the night._

_"HELP ME!"_

_Lubos heard the child's voice and flew into the burning house. He was in the house for a few minutes before he escaped the inferno with something in his arms, which were covered with his cape._

_"Do not fret, little one." Lubos said, removing his cape from the young cat he rescued, "No one will try to hurt you anymore on this night."_

_But the cat, who had inhaled a lot of smoke, did not hear him, she was out._

_Lubos caressed the white hair on the cat's face._

* * *

"What!" Sam exclaimed rather quietly.

Rad knew that Sam was shocked; the cat would have yelled, if she were outraged.

"I did safe your life, since it was my fault that your mother and father were brutally killed" Lubos said with regret in his red eyes.

The cat sat down and folded her arms, showing her disbelief in the wolf's words.

"That still doesn't explain why you planned to marry me." Sam announced loudly.

"It was merely a ruse to fool Neyla." The dark wolf answered with a grin.

"A ruse?" Sam asked in confusion.

"Whoa!" Carmelita exclaimed quietly.

"You can say that again." Sly agreed with his wife.

Rad nodded with the others.

"But why?" Belle asked.

Lubos sighed again before he responded.

"Neyla found out about me rescuing her niece, but I had to fabricate an explanation to her, and she accepted it."

"Did she believe it?" Bentley inquired.

"Not at first," confessed Lubos, "but as time passed, she started believing me until she was truly convinced that I intended to wed Miss Down."

"That explains some of this story." Justin said, looking at Luna.

"But not all of it." Luna announced.

Lubos grinned as he said, "Very true."

Mar knew what Luna meant.

"The Fiendish Klaws." The rat pointed out.

"I had no idea that Neyla had formed a posse to destroy the Cooper clan." The dark wolf said, "If I had known, I would have stopped it long ago."

"Right." Sam and Carmelita said quietly to themselves.

Lubos laughed a little.

"This is very strange." Sly admitted.

"You are not alone with that feeling." The Panda King agreed.

"Yeah." Murry said.

Lubos rose from his seat.

"You all may use this castle for the night." The wolf announced, "But I must asked you to leave as soon as the sun rises."

Then, Lubos disappeared into the darkness, leaving the two Cooper Gangs in confusion.

* * *

5:45 a.m.

Sam was in her room, asleep from the excitement of the evening, when an awful noise had awakened her.

"What was that!"

* * *

In Rad's room, the Cooper heir was also removed from his sleep by the very same sound.

"That sounded awful!"

Rad, who had slept his clothes on, ran out to the hall, but saw nothing.

"That was strange." The raccoon said to himself.

"You can say that again." Sam's voice spoke out, frightening Rad.

"Whoa!"

Sam saw Rad's reaction and apologized to him.

"Sorry about that."

"Please don't do that." Rad said after regaining his wits.

"It was an accident." Sam defended herself.

Then, the awful noise was heard again.

"That noise!" Sam said.

"So, we both heard it." Rad confirmed, "Let's check it out."

"Right." Sam nodded.

Then, the duo ran off for the source of the sound.

* * *

It had been twenty minutes after Rad and Sam started searching for the maker of the strange and frightening noise.

Sam sighed deeply as she had lost hope of finding it.

"This is difficult!"

"Yeah." Rad agreed, "But it did wake us up."

"Good point." The cat nodded.

Then, the noise came again, and it sounded closer to the duo.

"That sounded like a scream." Rad announced to Sam.

"Yeah." The cat agreed.

Then, the duo ran to the source again.

* * *

In a dark dungeon, Lubos was placing a magenta sphere on a pestle, when Rad and Sam entered the dungeon.

"Mister Cooper, Miss Down," Lubos politely asked, in spite of his shock, "what are you two doing down here?"

"We were about to ask you the same thing." Rad announced.

"Yeah," confirmed Sam, "we heard an awful sound."

"You did?" Lubos asked, very shocked.

"Yeah." Rad said.

Lubos sighed deeply as he turned back to the sphere.

"You heard Neyla." The wolf said.

"What!" Rad exclaimed.

"But she was destroyed, wasn't she?" Sam asked.

"Her mortal-like body was." Lubos said.

"Her body?" Rad asked.

"Yes," Lubos confessed, "when a vampire's body is destroyed, a sphere is left in their place. It will take a few years for them to recover their body, but that depends on the master's wish." The wolf finished with a grim grin.

The cat and the raccoon were confused, recalling that they had never seen a sphere.

"But how did…?" Rad started, but the baron interrupted.

"I managed to hide this one from you two, your gang, and Sly Cooper's ring of friends."

"Okay." Sam accepted the explanation.

"Now," The wolf said, "I must asked the both of you to return to your rooms."

"All right." Rad nodded his head as he began to leave.

"Of course." Sam said, following the raccoon.

Once both thieves had left, Lubos sighed to himself, saying, "This is not what I wanted to do for my time on Earth."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Rad and Sam had returned to the hall that they were in went the both of them had decided to investigate the noise.

"Well, I know now that Neyla's not going to be gone entirely." Sam said, shaking her head in shame.

"Hey," Rad responded and placing his hand on the cat's shoulder, "I should be the one really worried, not you."

"Why?"

"Because Clockwerk tortured and chased my family from thousands of years. And now that my family has gotten peace in our minds, Neyla comes back for blood."

"Quite factual." Lubos said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Whoa!" Rad and Sam exclaimed in fright.

"My apologies." The wolf said, realizing what he did, "I did not mean to frighten you."

"'Frighten' doesn't even start there." Sam announced.

"Still, I did not mean to inject fear into your hearts." The baron insisted on gaining the forgiveness of the duo.

"You didn't." Sam said.

"Yeah, there's a difference between fear and startled." Rad added.

The wolf smiled kindly and disappeared into the darkness again.

* * *

At sunrise

The Cooper gangs left the castle using the team van.

"That night was strange." Murry commented.

"At least, it's over." Bentley announced.

"Oh, yeah." Sly agreed with the turtle.

Sam and Rad looked at each other, knowing the truth.

"Should we?" The cat asked the raccoon.

"Nah!" Rad replied, "Let's not ruin their peace."

The feline smiled at the raccoon as she replied.

"You're right."

The two fell silent, allowing the conversations of the others to enter their ears.


	19. A Year Later

The Cooper X Gang

By Mutitoon90

Chapter Eighteen: A Year Later.

* * *

Paris, France 10:00 p.m.

Rad was on the top of the Eiffel Tower, writing in the Thievius Raccoonus.

_'This is the one year anniversary of Neyla's big defeat after my dad, and everything's good.'_

The raccoon stopped to collect his thoughts before he returned to his writing.

_'I can't believe how much things have changed within a year. Justin and Luna are now newlyweds; they're now racing on land and on sea, which is wonderful for the dads, Murry and Dimitri.'_

Rad pulled out a postcard, which had Luna and Justin holding a gold trophy in the middle of the ocean, and placed in the giant book.

"Those two lovebirds." The raccoon smiled happily before he started writing again.

_'Belle and Mar are dating now, as well as co-workers, but they are working in Mar's family business. Belle gave up the crush on me, and she went to someone who had more in common. I miss those two.'_

"Hey, Rad."

The raccoon turned around and saw Sam, who was dressed in a black dress, which made the cat look like a Goth.

"Hi, Sam." The raccoon greeted the cat.

"Hi, Rad, look what we got from Belle and Mar." The cat announced, pulling a piece of paper out of her pants pocket.

Rad took the paper and saw the writing.

"Belle and Mar are getting married?" The raccoon exclaimed.

"That's right." Sam said calmly, "I can finally stop worrying about her and Mar."

"Me too." Rad agreed.

Then, the raccoon wrote down a new part in his paragraph.

_'Now they engaged, and we've been invited, but I better be careful about going to the wedding, knowing Mom and Dad.'_

Sam looked over Rad's shoulder and saw what he wrote.

"You still writing, or you're done?" The cat asked.

"Still." Rad answered.

"Sorry." The feline backed away from the raccoon.

Rad smiled as he said, "It's all right."

Sam smiled before she turned around and saw the lights of the city of Paris.

"Amazing." The cat mewed under her breath.

Rad resumed his writing.

_'Sam and I are still together on the thieving business. Mom and Dad are after me both as parents and as law enforcers.'_

Rad exited the book and thought some more and remembered something and wrote it down.

_'Baron Lubos has been keeping an eye on Neyla. We've been visiting him, despite his demands to be left alone, and he has told us that Neyla was recovering (that's the term that he said) quicker than he excepted. We even gave a cell phone, just in case of emergencies.'_

Then, a ring was heard from Sam's pants pocket. The cat pulled out her cell phone and answered it.

"Hello?" Sam asked.

Rad watched as the feline talked on the phone.

"Okay." The cat said, "Bye."

"Who was it?" Rad asked.

"Baron Lubos." Sam replied, "He was checking up on us."

"Okay." Rad said. Then, he turned back to the heirloom.

_'We got him a cell phone, but it's so he could call us, if Neyla should regain her mortal-like form.'_

Rad put his name at the bottom and closed the book.

"We're going now?" The cat asked, still looking at the lights.

"Yeah." Rad said with a smile.

As the duo was starting to leave, a familiar voice shouted at them.

"Freeze!"

Rad and Sam turned and saw Carmelita and Sly Cooper.

"The in-laws again." Sam joked as the inspector and the constable announced their intentions.

"You two are under arrest!" Sly yelled at the two thieves.

"Shouldn't you say that after you put the handcuffs on us?" Rad spoke to his parents in a joking manner.

Then, Rad and Sam jumped off the landmark and entered a freefall.

"Rad!" The parents of Conrad Cooper yelled in parental shock, but their surprise turned to fury when Rad and Sam pulled out their parachutes.

Rad and Sam laughed until they had reached the ground, when they started running away.

"Rad, get back here!" Carmelita yelled at her son.

"We would like a word with you!" Sly growled loudly at his child.

Rad and Sam, however, knew that was not a wise idea to return to enraged parents, so they ran until they reached the van.

"We made it!" Sam shouted, when a bolt hit the ground just a foot away from the cat's body.

"Not yet!" Rad announced as he and the cat entered the van and drove off.

"That was close." Rad grinned as he drove the van.

Sam looked in the rearview mirror and saw the lights of police cars right behind them.

"Guess again." The cat announced, pointing at the police cars.

Rad looked at the rearview mirror and saw the cars as well.

"Those guys are always thinking ahead." The raccoon grinned as he sped up the van.

The van weaved in and out of lanes, evading the police and avoiding the bystanders until it reached a bridge.

"We're here!" Rad announced to his partner.

"I know." The cat replied, pulling out a rectangle box out of her pocket.

The sirens of the police grew louder as the van sat idly near the bridge. Among the law enforcement vehicles was a red sports car with a siren on it, and Sly and Carmelita Cooper drove it.

"We got them now!" Carmelita shouted to her husband.

Sly smiled as he thought about the planned actions of his son.

In the van, Sam saw Rad's parents.

"They're here." The cat announced.

"I know." Rad grinned as he revved the engine.

Sam grinned and opened the box, which had a red button.

"Push the button." The raccoon said.

"Right!" The cat replied as she pressed the button.

On the other side of the bridge, a red light flashed in the booth.

"What's that?" The inspector asked her partner.

"A re-enactment." Sly answered.

"What do you mean?" The vixen asked.

Then, she saw the bridge starting to rise.

"Rad's not crazy enough to do that!" The detective announced.

Then, the sound of squealing tires was heard.

"Oh, no!" The fox exclaimed at the sound. She turned to the police force and yelled out, "After them!"

The officers obeyed and sped after the van.

In the van, Rad and Sam grinned at each other as the cat opened a secret compartment, which revealed switch.

"Ready?" Rad asked his accomplice.

"Born ready." The cat grinned at the raccoon.

As they drove up the bridge, Rad yelled to his partner.

"Now!"

Sam nearly punched the button.

On the van, boosters appeared and blasted out, pushing the van over the bridge and the empty air between the two halves of the bridge.

The Coopers and the police force were awestricken when they saw the van jump over the bridge with boosters and landed safely to the other side.

"I can't believe it!" Carmelita shouted.

" I can." Sly said under his mouse.

* * *

Midnight

Sam and Rad were relaxing by the outskirts of the city of Paris.

"I wish that I got a chance to look at your mom's face." Sam giggled from the mental image of the enraged vixen's face.

"I can imagine my dad's face." Rad said, grinning at himself.

"Yeah!" The cat said, "Every time you look at the mirror."

"Hey!" The raccoon laughed.

The two laughed as they watched the stars.

"Hey, a shooting star!" Rad pointed at the sky.

"Make a wish." Sam hollered.

The two closed their eyes and made a wish.

"What did you wish for?" Rad asked, opening an eye to look at the cat.

"Like I'm telling you." The feline replied, also opening an eye to see the raccoon before blow a raspberry at him.

"Oh, yeah?" Rad asked. Then, he blew a raspberry.

The two laughed again until they lost their breath. It was a few minutes until they spoke again; Sam was the first to speak.

"This is nice, isn't it?"

Rad smiled, because he knew what the feline was talking about.

"Yeah, Sam, it is."

Then, Rad asked a question.

"What is your wish?"

Sam remained quiet for a moment.

"Well?" The raccoon asked.

"Well…" The cat said, "My only wish has come true."

Rad became curious.

"And that would be?"

"To have a family again." Sam answered.

Rad was shocked; Sam was rarely this opened to anyone.

"Really?" The raccoon said with his ears went up.

"Yeah, I never thought that I would find that family again." Sam confessed, "I know that the family that I lost can never be replaced, but I found a new family."

"Anything else?" Rad asked.

"There is something else." The cat grinned.

"What?" The raccoon asked.

Then, the feline stuck out her tongue, saying, "I'm not telling you that."

Rad sighed out of annoyance and said, "Fine, but I better hear that it has came true when it does happen."

"Okay." The cat agreed, returning her tongue to her mouth.

The raccoon smiled, seeing that Sam has changed for the better since he first met her. Sam's sadness was nearly gone, and her fury has been cooled down to a mild roar, but Rad still was worried about Sam, due to the fact that Neyla was still technically alive. Overall, Sam was much happier.

"Sam?" Rad asked.

"Yeah?" Sam answered.

"I hope your wish comes true." The raccoon announced.

The cat was pleasantly surprised at the raccoon and smiled at him.

"Thanks." Sam smiled sweetly

"No problem." Rad said.

The duo was about to return to being silence when sirens were heard.

"Here we go again." Rad grinned with mischief on his face, like a mask.

"Time to run." Sam announced as she and her co-worker hopped off the van to enter it.

Once in the van, Rad kissed Sam on the lips before he started up the van.

"Rad, Sam, stop now, and we'll go easy on you." Sly's voice rang out to the duo.

Rad and Sam looked at each other as if asking each other, 'Does he really think we're gonna to that?'

Rad shifted the gears and drove off with a pack of police cars after the van.

As Rad drove, Sam smiled with a single thought in her mind: The hope that Rad and Sam would be together for a very long time.

* * *

The End


End file.
